DESERT  TRAILS 
OF  ATACAMAj^ 

ISAIAH  BOWMAN 

♦{!♦ ■ 

AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 
/        SPECIAL  PUBLICATION  JSO,  5 


i«^ilSi, 


university  of 

Connecticut 

libraries 


hbl,  stx 


F    3131.B78 
Desert  trails  of  Atacama, 


3151 
B78 


THE  OASIS  OF  MAXILLA 


The  first  and  last  impression  of  the  desert  towns  is  enduringly  pleasant. 
From  the  desert  trail,  long,  hot,  and  deep  in  dust,  their  inviting  gardens  are 
seen  many  leagues  away,  and  at  night  a  tower  light  on  a  commanding  hill- 
top guides  the  traveler  to  their  hospitable  gates.  Rows  of  refreshing  orchard 
trees,  neat  squares  of  vegetable  gardens,  and  a  life-giving  stream  with  cluster- 
ing houses — that  is  the  picture.  In  the  twilight  of  morning  and  evening  the 
strong  contrast  of  yellow  plain  and  deep  green  foliage  is  most  marked  and 
lends  to  the  view,  in  that  otherwise  cheerless  land,  an  indescribable  charm. 


AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 
SPECIAL  PUBLICATION  NO.  5 

Edited  by  G.  M.  Wrigley 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF 
ATACAMA 

BY 

ISAIAH  BOWMAN 

Director  of  the  American  Geographical  Society 


AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 

BROADWAY  AT  156th  STREET 

NEW  YORK 

19  24 


COPYRIGHT,   1924 

BY 

THE  AMERICAN   GEOGRAPHICAL   SOCIETY 

OF  NEW  YORK 


RUMFORD   PRESS,  CONCORD,  N.   H.,   U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 
X 

XI 

XII 
XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 


Pioneer  Fields  of  Discovery i 

A  Desert  Journey ii 

Rainfall  of  the  Desert 40 

Population  Groups  of  the  Nitrate  Desert    .      .  60 

Political  Geography  of  Atacama 83 

The  Southern  Margin  of  the  Desert  ....  96 
Earthquakes  in  Copiapo  and  the  Roaring  Moun- 
tain OF  Toledo 143 

The  Influence  of  Mining  on  a  Desert  Settle- 
ment        162 

Eastern  Border  Towns 186 

The    Smaller    Intermont    Valleys:    The    Live 

Stock  Trade  with  Bolivia 202 

The  Chaco  Country  and  the  Cattle  Trade  with 

THE  Nitrate  Desert 218 

San  Pedro  de  Atacama 236 

The  Puna  de  Atacama:  Land  Forms,   Pasture, 

and  Woodland 252 

Crossing  the  Puna  de  Atacama 275 

Puna  Settlements         294 

Habitability  OF  the  Puna  IN  THE  Past       .      .      .  310 

The  Geographical  Significance  of  the  Puna      .  328 

The  Historical  Bearing 343 

Index 349 


separate  illustrations 


I    The  Copiapo  and  Vallenar  Valleys  (3  photographs)  opp.  no 
II     Border  of  the  Cordillera  at  Rosario  de  Lerma 

(2  maps) opp.  192 

III    The  Puna  de  Atacama  (3  photographs)      ....    opp.  278 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

LYRASIS  members  and  Sloan  Foundation 


http://www.archive.org/details/deserttrailsofatOObowm 


PREFACE 

I  have  attempted  herein  to  describe  and  interpret  a  region, 
traversed  on  three  field  expeditions,  which  has  more  strongly 
attracted  me  than  any  other  part  of  South  America — the 
Desert  of  Atacama  and  the  high  ranges  and  plateaus  of  the 
Central  Andes  which  end  in  the  Puna  de  Atacama  on  the 
south.  The  narrative  is  brief,  personal  experiences  being 
introduced,  as  a  rule,  only  when  they  serve  to  complete  the 
geographical  picture.  Near  the  southern  end  of  the  desert 
are  the  towns  of  Copiapo  and  Vallenar,  and  the  longest  chapter 
is  devoted  to  their  fascinating  life  and  especially  its  pioneer 
character.  Of  equal  interest  to  the  geographer  is  the  girdle  of 
settled  country  that  runs  about  the  high  and  cold  Puna  de 
Atacama.  I  have  not  limited  the  story  to  the  desert  country 
alone  but  have  included  a  brief  account  of  the  Chaco  or  grass- 
lands of  northeastern  Argentina  and  adjacent  Bolivia,  because 
the  currents  of  business  flow  naturally  from  these  border  settle- 
ments across  the  Atacama  country  and  deeply  affect  its  life. 

My  grateful  acknowledgments  are  due  the  Editor,  Miss 
Gladys  M.  Wrigley,  who  has  performed  her  task  in  so  con- 
structive a  manner  as  quite  to  transcend  the  usual  editorial 
function,  supplying  many  historical  data,  especially  in  the 
chapter  on  mining,  and  giving  the  whole  work  logical  arrange- 
ment and  precision.  I  am  also  indebted  to  Miss  Elizabeth  T. 
Piatt  for  her  scholarly  assistance  in  assembling  reference 
material;  and  to  Lt.-Col.  Michael  Kostenko,  who  in  his 
craftsmanlike  compilation  of  the  Iquique,  Atacama,  and 
Coquimbo  sheets  of  the  American  Geographical  Society's 
Millionth  Map  of  Hispanic  America  has  supplied  a  most  help- 
ful basis  for  geographical  research  in  the  Atacama  region. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  record  my  obligations  to  Yale  University 
under  whose  auspices  two  of  the  field  expeditions  were  carried 
through.  To  the  Officers  and  Council  of  the  Society  I  desire  to 
express  my  heartfelt  thanks  and  appreciation  for  their  support 
of  field  work  in  South  America  and  their  interest  in  this  as  well 
as  my  earlier  and  more  technical  publications  on  the  region. 

Isaiah  Bowman 


CHAPTER  I 
PIONEER  FIELDS  OF  DISCOVERY 

The  geographical  explorer  seeks  not  merely  new  or  wonderful 
things;  indeed  his  main  object  is  not  that  at  all.  If  he  steers  a 
course  to  distant  lands  it  is  because  he  wishes  first  of  all  to 
make  discoveries,  whether  these  are  wonderful  or  not,  out  be- 
yond the  realm  of  accustomed  life,  or  as  Colonel  Roosevelt  put 
it,  "beyond  the  rim  of  the  known  world."  Real  exploration  can 
also  be  done  in  one's  own  garden,  as  Darwin  demonstrated  in 
his  classic  study  of  earthworms.  Agassiz,  walking  over  the 
rounded  New  England  hills  and  drift-strewn  valleys,  discov- 
ered the  fact  of  continental  glaciation  in  a  vanished  Ice  Age, 
where  others  still  speculated  about  the  Noaic  deluge.  He  said 
simply,  "If  this  were  in  Switzerland  I  should  say  the  ice  had 
been  here."  Before  he  came  to  New  England  he  had  "ex- 
plored" the  fish  collections  of  Cuvier  at  Paris.  Whatever  he 
did  was  noteworthy  because  it  was  related  to  the  discovery  or 
exploration  of  a  moving  idea.  The  adventure  and  sport  of  ex- 
ploration are  but  a  fleeting  record  compared  with  contributions 
to  knowledge,  for  they  are  the  incidents  on  the  way  and  not  the 
goal  of  exploratory  research. 

It  has  become  the  fashion  to  say  that  major  exploration  is  at 
an  end  because  the  North  Pole  and  the  South  Pole  have  been 
attained  and  the  general  design  of  the  mountains,  deserts,  and 
drainage  systems  of  the  earth  has  become  known.  Yet  in  truth 
the  map  is  still  crowded  with  scientific  mysteries  though  its 
great  historic  mysteries  have  been  swept  away.  The  Mountains 
of  the  Moon,  the  sources  of  the  Nile  and  the  Congo,  the  secrets 
of  the  inner  Sahara,  the  heart  of  Tibet,  these  are  among  the 
great  mysteries  that  long  awaited  the  explorer  and  that  have 
been  dispelled  one  by  one. 

Has  the  age  of  discovery  ended  with  these  exploits?  Before 
we  can  answer  that  question  we  must  know  what  constitutes  a 
discovery.    It  is  undoubtedly  an  achievement  to  fill  in  a  blank 


2  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

space  on  the  map ;  but  discovery  has  not  ended  when  the  blank 
spaces  are  filled,  for,  after  all,  the  map  is  but  a  sheet  of  paper 
upon  which  we  place  symbols  and  lines  that  stand  for  realities 
and  their  surface  arrangement,  such  as  a  river  or  a  mountain  or 
a  city;  and  it  is  the  character  of  the  mountain,  the  peculiarities 
of  the  river,  the  conditions  of  life  and  the  relations  of  the  people 
who  live  in  the  cities,  or  in  fields  on  the  plains,  or  along  river 
banks  and  in  mountain  valleys,  and  who  transport,  manufac- 
ture, and  perhaps  have  political  relations  and  boundaries, 
ports,  colonies,  and  the  like,  that  are  of  abiding  interest.  The 
stage  upon  which  humanity  plays  the  great  game  of  life  is  an 
important  thing,  but  the  play  is  much  more  important.  Dis- 
covery can  hardly  be  said  to  be  ended  until  we  have  studied 
every  people  in  the  world  in  its  peculiar  physical  setting,  made 
nations  known  to  one  another,  and  perchance  lessened  our 
troubles  by  revealing  us  to  ourselves.  Long  before  the  sources 
of  the  Nile  were  discovered  by  European  explorers  there  were 
people  living  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Nile.  Indians  had 
roamed  the  forests  of  the  Rio  Roosevelt  for  centuries  before  the 
discovery  in  191 3  of  that  thousand-mile  river  in  the  heart  of  the 
Amazon  country.  The  Quechua  and  Aymara  Indians  of  the 
Central  Andes  have  passed  almost  daily  in  and  out  of  the  ruins 
of  buildings  that  their  ancestors  constructed  centuries  ago  but 
of  whose  existence  we  were  unaware  until  the  present  genera- 
tion. Until  facts  like  these  have  been  discovered  and  their  ex- 
act character  made  known  through  published  records,  they  are 
the  exclusive  possession  of  merely  primitive  peoples.  They 
have  not  yet  been  discovered  by  science. 

It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  geographer  undertakes  the  study 
of  new  lands  and  regions  today.  For  him  the  world  is  far  from 
being  explored.  Until  a  few  decades  ago  we  had  almost  no 
accurate  scientific  information  about  the  distinctive  conditions 
of  life  in  South  America,  or  about  the  distribution  and  charac- 
ter of  people  who  found  it  difficult  either  to  achieve  or  to  keep 
a  national  unity.  Until  two  decades  ago  the  physiography  of 
the  great  Andean  chain  was  almost  completely  unknown.  We 
were  aware  of  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  mountains,  the 
sources  of  the  most  important  rivers,  the  heights  of  passes  and 


PIONEER  FIELDS  OF  DISCOVERY  3 

peaks,  but  we  knew  nothing  of  the  exact  nature  and  history  of 
the  mountain  forms.  No  one  had  up  to  that  time  given  us  a 
picture  of  the  mountain  landscapes  in  modern  terms;  that  is,  in 
terms  that  conveyed  exact  impressions  and  in  contrast  to  the 
vague,  general  terms  such  as  the  casual  traveler  may  employ  in 
painting  a  picture  that  makes  a  special  appeal  to  him. 

The  Five  Main  Fields  of  Exploration 

The  desert  has  furnished  one  of  the  five  main  fields  of  explor- 
ation in  historical  times,  the  other  four  being  the  polar  regions, 
the  unknown  mountains  of  the  world,  the  tropical  forests,  and 
the  islands  of  the  sea.  Mountains  were  once  objects  of  venera- 
tion and  awe  and  even  of  worship.  Many  peoples  considered 
them  the  abode  of  evil  spirits.  Their  dark  defiles,  their  great 
uninhabited  spaces,  their  wild  storms,  all  of  which  have  excited 
the  imagination  and  attracted  the  explorer  in  modern  times, 
were  fearsome  things  to  the  plains  dweller  who  knew  the 
mountains  only  by  reputation  or  by  legends  that  came  down  to 
lowland  cities  from  mountain  folk  or  from  passing  travelers. 
Where  the  modern  man  goes  voyaging  for  adventure  and  pleas- 
ure among  distant  and  little-known  islands  in  remote  parts  of 
the  sea,  there  the  European  at  the  dawn  of  civilization  saw 
only  outer  darkness  or  the  abode  of  strange  peoples  and  listened 
to  legends  of  islands  that  were  said  to  have  vanished  beneath 
the  ocean.  Equally  strange  as  distant  islands,  equally  fearsome 
as  the  mountains,  were  the  vast  inner  recesses  of  the  tropical 
forests  when  their  margins  first  became  known  to  the  explorer 
and  the  settler.  The  sources  of  the  great  rivers  that  flowed 
through  them  were  in  most  cases  unknown,  and  quite  unknown 
at  first  were  the  peoples  who  lived  on  their  banks  or  in  clearings 
in  the  forest.  For  a  long  time  it  was  believed  that  the  Amazon 
forest  was  the  home  of  the  strange  folk  that  legend  had  pic- 
tured, and  one  expedition  after  the  other  went  out  to  find  them. 
The  extraordinary  animal  and  human  life  of  the  central  African 
forest  long  furnished  one  of  the  greatest  incentives  to  explora- 
tion, an  incentive  that  draws  men  even  today.  The  conquest 
of  the  poles  of  the  earth,  like  the  conquest  of  high  mountain 


4  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

peaks,  has  had  In  it  a  large  element  of  science  and  the  search  for 
knowledge  but  also  an  equally  large  element  of  sheer  adventure 
and  sport,  for  It  has  required  physically  well-trained  men, 
willing  to  adopt  special  modes  of  living  and  special  diets,  and 
also  men  of  Imagination  who  could  work  long  and  arduously 
for  the  sake  of  a  record.  It  Is  no  dispraise  of  the  scientific  re- 
sults of  explorers  to  say  that  the  appeal  of  exploration  In  many 
cases  has  been  to  the  romantic  and  adventurous  rather  than 
the  strictly  scientific,  though  the  name  of  science  Is  always  in- 
voked to  strengthen  each  new  enterprise.  Peary  put  the  case 
more  frankly.  He  thought  the  attainment  of  the  North  Pole 
by  an  American  a  matter  of  patriotic  pride  and  that  the  way  to 
get  there  was  to  live  like  the  Eskimo,  have  exceptional  powers 
of  endurance,  and  expend  unlimited  muscular  energy. 

It  Is  altogether  a  modern  thing  to  look  at  the  great  objects  of 
exploration  from  the  purely  scientific  standpoint.  David  and 
Mawson  In  the  Antarctic  and  Stefansson  in  his  Arctic  work  of 
the  past  decade  have  done  this.  It  was  characteristic  of  Colo- 
nel Roosevelt  that  he  should  never  be  carried  away  by  his  nar- 
rative, or  the  adventure  which  he  was  living,  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  overlook  the  scientific  value  of  the  thing  he  was  observ- 
ing. Everything  that  he  wrote  bears  the  stamp  of  the  pioneer 
spirit.  He  was  curious  about  the  pioneer.  He  wanted  to  see 
how  he  lived,  how  he  met  the  special  conditions  of  his  environ- 
ment, whether  of  frost  or  heat  or  flood  or  drought;  and,  above 
all,  he  was  keen  about  the  motives  that  lay  back  of  that  restless 
energy  which  the  pioneer  has  always  displayed  and  that 
Independence  of  spirit  that  has  made  him  so  great  a  factor  in 
history.  Both  his  African  and  South  American  journeys  have 
yielded  notable  pioneer  studies,  and  his  observations  on  west- 
ern life  and  especially  his  historical  studies  In  the  "Winning  of 
the  West"  are  contributions  of  a  high  order.  Livingstone  was 
for  a  long  time  almost  alone  In  having  an  unquenchable  inter- 
est in  the  frontier  of  modern  life  In  Africa  and  the  effect  of  the 
oncoming  wave  of  civilization  upon  the  native  peoples  whom 
he  knew  and  loved.  That  is  why  his  writings  will  have  a  classic 
interest  long  after  the  romantic  and  adventurous  work  of 
others  shall  have  passed  Into  comparative  forgetfulness. 


PIONEER  FIELDS  OF  DISCOVERY  5 

To  my  mind,  the  desert  is  the  most  interesting  place  in  the 
world  for  exploration  and  geographical  study.  This  is  alto- 
gether a  matter  of  personal  taste  and  to  that  extent  at  least  will 
not  require  an  explanation.  Far  from  being  uninhabited,  every 
desert  has  a  great  many  people  in  it  and  a  great  many  more 
who  live  just  on  its  borders,  where  they  are  grouped  in  com- 
munities that  trade  with  the  larger  cities  and  towns  of  the  wet- 
ter regions  near  by  and  the  still  smaller  cities  and  towns  of  the 
desert  interior.  They  take  great  risks  with  the  rain.  Now  they 
have  years  of  plenty,  and  again  they  have  years  of  drought  and 
distress.  How  came  a  desert  people  to  seek  so  severe  an  envi- 
ronment? So  long  as  the  well-watered  lands  will  support 
more  population,  why  do  some  go  into — or  remain  in — the 
desert?  There  has  been  estimated  to  be  many  millions  of 
people  living  in  the  deserts  of  the  world,  the  Sahara  alone 
supporting  two  millions  within  its  borders.  Of  the  fifty 
million  square  miles  of  land  surface  on  the  earth  one  fifth, 
or  ten  million  square  miles,  are  desert.  It  may  seem  sur- 
prising that  anyone  should  endure  the  risk  and  distress  of 
desert  living  until  we  remember  that  desert  folk  are  not  scat- 
tered over  bare  rock  and  lifeless  sand  but  live  grouped  in 
oases  for  the  most  part,  where  their  gardens  look  as  prosper- 
ous as  those  of  Connecticut  or  Virginia.  Just  as  mountain 
people  live  in  valleys  among  the  mountains  and  not  on  moun- 
tain peaks  so  desert  people  live  in  the  watered  spots  and  not 
on  the  sand  dunes.  Though  we  hear  much  of  the  nomadism 
of  the  desert,  there  are  far  more  desert  dwellers  living  on  farms 
than  there  are  living  from  wide-ranging  flocks  and  herds. 
And  even  the  nomad  generally  winters  or  summers,  according 
to  the  quality  and  time  of  the  rains,  in  some  home  site  where 
for  a  time  at  least  he  leads  a  more  settled  life. 


The  Desert  as  a  Geographical  Laboratory 

Any  land  that  has  severe  conditions  of  life  is  a  geographical 
laboratory.  If  men  there  take  risks  with  nature  they  can  sur- 
vive only  by  adapting  their  life  accordingly.  Again,  every  des- 
ert settlement  tends  to  fill  up.   When  a  desert  valley  has  been 


6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

filled  with  people  by  the  natural  growth  of  population  or  by 
immigration  from  elsewhere,  what  is  the  mode  of  escape? 
Neighboring  valleys  and  oases  are  often  themselves  filled  up, 
and  the  horizon  of  a  humble  farmer  or  shepherd  rarely  includes 
the  distant  and  strange  places  that  are  the  centers  of  industry, 
where  population  can  be  absorbed  in  increasing  numbers.  In 
such  a  small  isolated  world  what  changes  of  social  structure  are 
brought  about  by  the  pressure  of  population?  These  little  des- 
ert communities  are  to  a  large  degree  self-governing.  To  what 
extent  have  they  adapted  their  home-made  regulations  to  meet 
the  trials  of  the  years  of  drought?  When  the  rains  fail  and  the 
cattle  die  and  trade  becomes  dislocated  and  feeble,  how  is  the 
social  and  business  structure  maintained? 

It  is  natural  to  look  to  war  as  a  relief  from  the  pressure  of 
population.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  war  offers  very  little  re- 
lief from  such  pressure.  The  feuds  and  raids  that  exist  among 
many  desert  folk  involve  a  certain  percentage  of  loss  by  vio- 
lent death.  Hard  conditions  of  life  themselves  tend  to  hold  the 
population  down  by  limiting  the  birth  rate  in  one  way  or 
another.  Great  changes  of  climate  may  bring  about  a  general 
movement  of  population,  and  we  have  seen  this  illustrated  by 
the  sharp  droughts  of  the  past  few  years  in  the  Samara  region 
north  and  northwest  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  when  hordes  of 
Russians  moved  west  and  north  into  the  more  favored  sections 
in  their  search  for  food.  But  while  such  a  driving  forth  of  a 
desert  people  may  have  been  brought  about,  I  think  the  effect 
of  it  upon  history  and  the  social  structure  has  been  altogether 
exaggerated,  perhaps  largely  because  it  is  a  picturesque 
and  violent  proceeding  that  appeals  to  the  imagination. 

But  a  picturesque  event  is  oftentimes  utterly  trivial  in  its 
effect  upon  the  character  of  a  people  and  its  modes  of  gaining  a 
livelihood.  If  history  is  a  record  of  picturesque  incidents,  then 
the  driving  forth  of  a  desert  people  by  increasing  drought  is  an 
important  fact.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  history  is  a  record  of  the 
growth  of  culture  and  ideas,  then  a  given  migration  from  a 
drought-stricken  desert  may  have  very  little  significance.  The 
fact  that  a  people  has  gone  forth  is  in  itself  not  to  be  taken  as 
establishing  the  importance  of  the  event.    If  it  goes  steadily 


PIONEER  FIELDS  OF  DISCOVERY  7 

forth  and  carries  a  significant  culture  into  bordering  commu- 
nities or  is  itself  absorbed  by  bordering  communities  that  are 
altered  in  the  process,  then  the  migration  is  of  very  great  im- 
portance. I  think  we  have  too  long  assumed  that  the  mere 
movement  of  peoples  is  the  important  thing,  whereas  the  truth 
would  appear  to  lie  at  the  opposite  extreme.  If  the  effect  of  the 
migration  is  important,  then  the  migration  is  important;  but  it 
must  be  first  shown  that  there  has  been  an  effect. 

Whether  or  not  migrations  have  affected  the  life  of  a  desert 
people,  that  life  tends  to  go  on  living  up  to  the  limit  of  its 
known  resources  and  to  use  them  with  all  the  intelligence  at  its 
command ;  so  that  those  who  stay  in  desert  valleys  and  oases 
live  a  self-contained  life. 

Is  Man  the  Conqueror  or  the  Conquered? 

On  the  western,  or  seaward,  border  of  the  great  Andean 
chain  the  desert  holds  sway  for  nearly  two  thousand  miles. 
Down  into  the  border  of  the  desert  come  streams  from  the 
higher  country  where  snows  and  summer  rains  give  birth  to  a 
multitude  of  mountain  torrents.  The  villages  and  tiny  settle- 
ments lie  scattered  along  the  foot  of  the  Andes.  Each  commu- 
nity lives  a  life  unto  Itself.  Isolation  is  here  an  outstanding 
fact,  traffic  with  the  outside  world  being  both  feeble  and  Irreg- 
ular. All  the  settlements  exhibit  social  and  political  organiza- 
tions shaped  by  the  geographical  conditions  that  surround 
them.  They  are  locally  famous  for  this  product  or  that  and, 
though  far  away  from  the  great  centers  of  commerce,  are  not 
wholly  unaffected  by  modern  civilization.  We  are  not  to  imag- 
ine because  a  railroad  has  been  built  near  by  or  a  mine  has  been 
opened  calling  for  such  labor  as  the  desert  can  spare,  that  a 
desert  community  has  been  revolutionized.  Even  in  such  cases 
nature  continues  to  stamp  her  character  upon  the  life  of  the 
desert  dweller.  I  wish  to  emphasize  this  point  because  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  say  when  man  has  built  a  railroad  into  the  desert  or 
the  mountains  that  he  has  conquered  them,  that  thereby  man 
is  bending  nature  to  his  will,  that  he  is  annihilating  what  for- 
merly frustrated  him.    But  even  if  railroads  are  run  across  the 


8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

mountains  or  the  desert  reclaimed  by  scientific  methods  of  in- 
vestigation or  rubber  gathered,  as  it  was  until  recently,  in  enor- 
mous quantities  in  all  the  highways  and  byways  of  a  once  im- 
penetrable forest,  still  all  these  are  done  by  such  methods  and 
at  such  an  expense  of  human  energy  and  of  capital,  even  of  life, 
as  to  make  them  examples  not  of  sheer  human  conquest  but  of 
a  conditional  conquest.  Because  of  the  urgency  of  his  need, 
man  in  the  temperate  zones  penetrates  the  unfavorable  envi- 
ronment of  desert  and  tropical  forest  and  meets  difficulties  by 
new  means,  chiefly  through  the  expenditure  of  money.  The 
railroads  that  cross  the  Andes  have  not  overcome  the  moun- 
tains; they  are  paying  toll  to  them.  Every  pound  of  coal,  every 
mile  of  grade  that  must  be  overcome,  costs  man  so  much  the 
more  and  reduces  the  profits  of  his  enterprise  or  increases  the 
tax  upon  the  resources  of  all  those  who  contribute  to  the  com- 
merce which  the  railroad  carries. 

The  historian  Buckle  was  measurably  right,  therefore,  when 
he  entertained  the  view  that  the  backwardness  of  South 
Americans  was  due  to  the  fact  that  man  was  there  overbur- 
dened by  nature  as  upon  no  other  continent.  The  tropical  for- 
ests are  too  vast,  in  Buckle's  view,  the  mountains  and  plateaus 
too  high,  the  deserts  too  arid  for  man's  successful  conquest. 
Now  the  railroads  have  come,  many  great  mines  have  been 
opened,  the  population  has  been  vastly  increased;  but  out  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  influence  of  these  things,  in  the  isolated 
villages  of  the  desert  oases,  and  in  lonely  mountain  valleys  are 
still  living  unaffected  groups  that  follow  the  old  callings  and 
ways  of  life. 

The  border  of  any  desert  is  a  long-enduring  frontier.  Four 
centuries,  and  at  the  end  of  them  a  railway,  have  not  altered 
the  essential  pioneer  quality  of  the  life  of  desert  communities 
like  Calama  and  Copiapo ;  and  to  an  even  greater  degree  this 
is  true  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  Pica,  Matilla,  and  Quillagua. 
Water  remains  a  primordial  basis  of  life;  the  state  of  the 
pastures  is  a  topic  as  keenly  interesting  today  as  in  the  time 
of  Valdivia  and  Aguirre;  the  mountain  trails  and  the  best 
seasons  of  passage  over  them  are  known  to  boy  and  man  alike; 
the  year  of  the  last  river  flood  is  still  the  principal  date  of 


PIONEER  FIELDS  OF  DISCOVERY  9 

reference  for  events  in  and  about  Copiapo  and  takes  preced- 
ence over  earthquakes  in  this  respect,  terrible  as  these  have 
been;  the  sources  of  firewood,  quarrels  over  water  rights, 
the  price  of  forage  and  cart  or  pack  mules,  the  state  of  the 
snows  in  the  Cordillera — one  or  another  is  a  daily  theme  of 
conversation  and  a  running  basis  of  business.  The  structure 
of  such  a  community  is  of  great  historical  as  well  as  geograph- 
ical interest.  Loria,  the  Italian  economist,  holds  that  the 
history  of  colonial  settlement  is  for  economic  science  what  the 
mountain  is  for  geology,  bringing  to  light  primitive  stratifi- 
cations. "America,"  he  says,  "has  the  key  to  the  historical 
enigma  which  Europe  has  sought  for  centuries  in  vain,  and  the 
land  which  has  no  history  reveals  luminously  the  course  of 
universal  history."^ 

1  Achille  Loria:  Analisi  della  proprieta  capitalista,  2  vols.,  Turin,  1889;  reference  in 
Vol.  2,  p.  15.  Quoted  by  F.  J.  Turner:  The  Significance  of  the  Frontier  in  American 
History  (Ann.  Rept.  Amer.  Hist.  Assn.  for  1893,  pp.  igQ-227),  p.  207. 


mr\ 


Fig.  I — General  location  map  of  the  Desert  and  Puna  of  Atacama,  in  northern  Chile,  north- 
western Argentina,  and  southwestern  Bolivia.  Reduced  from  the  American  Geographical  So- 
ciety's six-sheet  map  of  Hispanic  America  on  the  scale  of  i :  6,000,000  with  additions  from  the 
compilation  sheets  of  the  Society's  i :  1,000,000  map.  The  heavy  dotted  lines  represent  the  prin- 
cipal trails  that  supplement  the  railway  network.     See  Fig.  86,  p.  253;  and  Fig.  87,  p.  259. 

10 


CHAPTER  II 
A  DESERT  JOURNEY 

If  the  high  and  bold  coast  of  northern  Chile  excites  the 
imagination  in  these  times,  what  must  it  have  seemed  to 
the  sea  voyagers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  hulls  of  whose 
tiny  caravels  would  find  ample  room  in  a  single  smokestack 
of  either  the  Leviathan  or  the  Majestic!  The  so-called  ports  of 
northern  Chile  are  either  open  roadsteads  or  occupy  mere 
shallow  bights  in  this  forbidding  coast,  and  the  towns  stand 
upon  narrow  marine  terraces  cut  in  a  past  age  and  now  up- 
lifted to  form  a  narrow  shelf  that  furnishes  barely  room  enough 
for  a  settlement.  In  places  two  or  three  thousand  feet  of  steep 
scarp,  as  barren  apparently  as  if  no  rain  ever  fell,  shut  off 
all  view  of  the  distant  mountains.  There  are  no  openings 
here  and  there  where  green  valleys  lie  floored  with  cultivated 
fields  as  on  the  coast  of  Peru.  It  is  a  simpler  coast  than  that 
farther  north  and  far  more  desert ic  in  aspect.  The  streams 
disappear  for  the  most  part  in  inland  basins,  and  the  coast  is 
almost  entirely  without  a  touch  of  green.  Except  for  one 
river,  the  Loa,  there  is  not  a  single  stream  that  reaches  the 
sea  in  the  600  miles  of  territory  from  Arica  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Copiapo  River.  There  are  dry  arroyos  that  nick  the  great 
western  scarp  of  the  coastal  desert,  but  they  carry  water  only 
in  times  of  highly  exceptional  rain  separated  by  ten  or  fifteen 
and  in  some  cases  fifty  years  of  drought. 

The  Desert  Landscape 

There  is  in  northern  Chile  none  of  the  scenic  beauty  that 
marks  the  change  from  bleak  mountains  to  the  warm,  green 
valleys  of  the  coastal  desert  of  Peru.  In  the  latter  case  the 
streams  reach  the  sea,  and  the  valley  walls  enclose  cultivated 
fields  that  fill  the  valley  floor.  In  Peru  the  picture  is  generally 
touched  with  color — a  yellow,  haze-covered  horizon  on  the 


12  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

bare  desert  above,  brown  lava  flows  on  the  brink  of  the  valley, 
gray-brown  cliffs,  and  greens  ranging  from  the  dull  shade  of 
algarrobo,  olive,  and  fig  trees  to  the  brightness  of  freshly  ir- 
rigated alfalfa  meadows.  In  northern  Chile  there  is  no  hint  of 
water  until  one  reaches  the  foothills  of  the  Andes  far  beyond 
the  Coast  Range  and  across  the  intervening  desert.     Where 


.  '"'•qa'  ^ii;r-%^-!^M 


Fig.  2 — The  steep  coast  of  northern  Chile  at  the  nitrate  port  of  Caleta  Buena. 
A  cog  railway  connects  the  shore  with  the  upper  level  which  stands  at  2000  to  2500 
feet  above  sea  level. 


water  occurs  it  is  so  small  in  volume  that  its  effects  are  almost 
completely  hidden  in  the  depths  of  steep-walled  ravines,  so 
that  in  many  places  one  may  look  for  miles  along  the  Andes 
without  seeing  a  single  trace  of  vegetation  or  human  life. 

To  reach  the  desert  of  northern  Chile  from  the  sea  one 
crosses  by  passes  set  almost  at  the  crest  of  the  Coast  Range. 
These  appear  high  up  in  the  ocean  view  of  the  coast,  but  from 
the  desert  they  are  mere  notches  set  in  low  and  quite  rounded 
hills  with  smooth  contours.  Beyond,  the  desert  opens  out, 
flat  in  places  or  gently  rolling  in  the  piedmont  belt  or  broken 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  13 

by  a  cinder  cone  or  local  lava  flow.  The  broad  plain  of  the 
nitrate  desert  is  known  as  the  pampa  and  is  set  between  two 
mountain  systems.  On  the  eastern  horizon  the  western  range 
of  the  Andes  (in  the  Iquique  region)  rises  by  a  broad  and 
rather  regular  slope  to  an  even  crest  visible  from  the  passes 
near  the  coast;  on  the  west  is  the  Coast  Range. 

On  my  first  pack-train  journey  into  northern  Chile  where 
the  nitrate  desert  begins  I  was  delighted  to  find  all  my  ex- 
pectations of  desert  scenery  realized.  For  the  first  fifty  miles 
there  was  but  a  single  spot  where  a  natural  growth  of  green 
could  be  seen  from  the  trail  and  but  one  other  where  there  was 
any  green  growth  at  all,  and  that  beside  a  desert  well  about 
which  were  clustered  a  few  low  huts.  All  the  rest  was  naked 
rock  and  sand,  brown  and  yellow  in  color  yet  appearing  stark 
and  colorless  in  tone  in  the  midday  sun  when  the  whole  land- 
scape is  overlighted;  glowing  with  color  as  the  sun  declines 
and  the  shadows  of  the  ravines  come  out.  It  is  the  end  of  the 
day  that  brings  out  the  colorful  mood  of  the  desert.  The 
afternoon  winds  raise  huge  clouds  of  dust,  and,  as  the  sun's 
rays  filter  through  the  murky  atmosphere  at  sunset,  they 
range  from  lively  yellow  at  the  beginning  to  violet,  which  in 
turn  deepens  gradually  to  a  series  of  purples  that  glorify  the 
sky  for  a  short  half  hour  until  displaced  by  the  grays  that 
deepen  into  night. 

At  the  eastern  edge  of  the  desert  there  are  in  places  moun- 
tains of  great  topographic  simplicity,  as  east  of  Iquique;  while 
in  other  places  they  show  great  complexity,  as  where  deep 
canyons  bordered  by  variegated  rocks  nick  the  high  mountain 
wall  with  its  crown  of  volcanoes  and  wide  bordering  volcanic 
flows.  The  snows  of  the  higher  cordillera  give  the  summit, 
peaks  a  clearer  outline  against  the  dark  blue  and  purple  back- 
ground of  the  sunset  sky  in  the  east.  From  the  mountains 
the  desert  plain  appears  to  extend  indefinitely  westward  and 
to  have  a  much  wider  range  of  color  and  form.  Distant  and 
lonely  a  village  stands  on  a  narrow  terrace  at  the  canyon 
border,  its  green  barley  and  alfalfa  fields  ending  at  the  edge 
of  an  abrupt  scarp  where  the  floods  of  the  rainy  season  and 
those  from  the  melting  snows  tear  holes  in  the  defensive  ram- 


14 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


parts  that  the  villagers  have  built  to  protect  their  precious 
acres  from  these  "acts  of  God."  In  the  great  hollows  at  the 
heads  of  the  canyons  are  natural  pastures,  and  there  under  the 
cliffs  the  traveler  finds  shelter  from  the  cold  down-valley 
winds  of  night. 

Many  leagues  of  dusty  and  stony  trail  must  be  traveled 
between  oases,  but  there  is  scarcely  a  single  valley  of  im- 


FlG. 


-Pack  train  in  the  desert  above  Pica  in  northern  Chile. 


portance  that  does  not  have  commercial  connection  with 
distant  places  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains  in  Bolivia  and 
Argentina.  In  such  a  country  every  wayfarer  is  immensely 
interesting.  One's  route  and  purpose  must  become  known  to 
all  before  the  flood  of  questions  subsides.  The  life  of  the  village 
is  turned  inside  out  for  you.  If  there  seems  to  be  only  abound- 
ing hospitality  it  is  no  derogation  of  the  native's  spirit  to  say 
that  the  traveler  pays  for  his  hospitality  in  news.  When  there 
is  no  morning  paper  to  be  had  the  stranger  within  the  gates  is  a 
lively  substitute.  New  York  seems  friendly  and  romantic 
only  on  the  rarest  occasions  and  in  rare  moods,  and  one  of  these 
is  when  the  traveler,  returns  from  the  wilderness.  He  can  then 
appreciate  what  he  himself  means  to  the  man  in  the  desert 
or  the  distant  mountain  village  when  a  strange  pack  train 
swings  into  the  head  of  the  one  tiny  street  that  marks  the 
order  of  a  town. 

The  deserts  of  the  world  are  not  lifeless  places,  although 
lifeless  tracts  of  more  or  less  limited  extent  can  be  found  in 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  15 

almost  all  deserts.  In  northern  Chile  where  is  the  driest  cli- 
mate in  the  world  there  are  villages,  because  even  there  the 
desert  is  not  absolutely  rainless,  and  where  there  is  rain  there 
are  streams  and  settlements  beside  them.  It  is  the  rarest  oc- 
currence to  find  a  watered  spot  in  the  desert  that  has  not  been 
settled  by  man. 

The  Nitrate  Pampa 

For  the  pack-train  journey  across  Atacama,  the  desert  of 
northern  Chile,  I  obtained  mules  and  guides  at  the  nitrate 
plant  of  Central  Lagunas  east  of  Iquique.  Through  the  kind- 
ness of  the  British  Consul  there  and  of  Mr.  Watson,  the  mana- 
ger of  his  nitrate  works  on  the  pampa,  we  were  prepared  for  a 
journey  of  several  weeks  and  set  out  early  in  May  for  the  pass 
at  the  southern  end  of  the  Cordillera  Sillilica,  which,  between 
latitude  I9°S.  and  2i°S.,  constitutes  the  boundary  between 
Chile  and  Bolivia.  Our  guides  were  workmen  from  the  nitrate 
establishment  and  were  supposed  to  know  the  mountain 
trails,  but  in  reality  they  were  as  ignorant  of  them  as  we  were. 
From  the  Consul,  who  had  been  over  a  portion  of  our  route, 
we  obtained  a  description  that  was  of  far  more  value  than  the 
knowledge  and  advice  of  the  guides.  The  first  day's  journey, 
including  a  short  stop  in  the  late  afternoon  at  the  pumping  sta- 
tion on  the  pipe  line  to  the  coast,  took  us  to  Matilla.  Soon 
after  we  rode  out  from  the  pleasant  shade  of  the  station  we 
entered  the  edge  of  the  piedmont  slope  formed  of  mountain 
detritus  washed  into  place  at  times  of  heavy  rain  or  of  melting 
snow  in  the  mountains  when  the  streams  come  down  in  tor- 
rents. Our  course  for  an  hour  or  more  was  along  this  slope 
rather  than  across  it,  and  in  this  stretch  we  saw  men  digging 
fuel  from  the  ground  and  loading  it  upon  wagons  from  the 
station — an  astonishing  way  in  which  to  get  firewood !  All  the 
more  curious  is  it  to  hear  the  phrase  "mining  for  wood."  Even 
at  the  present  day  the  lenador,  or  woodcutter,  is  a  typical 
figure  in  the  desert  region,  and  his  searches  for  the  commodity 
of  his  trade,  as  those  of  the  mine  prospector,  have  contributed 
to  the  exploration  of  this  inhospitable  country. 


i6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Exploitation  of  Firewood 

The  Pampa  del  Tamarugal,  which  runs  from  the  latitude  of 
Pisagua  to  the  River  Loa,  differs  from  the  desert  tracts  on 
either  side  of  it  in  having  more  abundant  ground  water  and  a 
higher  water  table.  In  the  Lagunas  salar  it  is  only  three  and  a 
half  feet  from  the  surface.  Today  the  Pampa  still  retains 
fragments  of  what  appears  to  have  been  a  more  extensive 
thorn-woodland  cover,  characterized  by  tamarugos,  algar- 
robos,  and  other  drought-resisting  species,  that  is  represented 
on  some  of  the  older  maps  and  described  in  early  records. 
Frezier  reports  that  in  17 12  there  was  near  Calama  a  forest  of 
algarrobos  where  vegetation  is  now  almost  entirely  absent. ^ 
San  Roman  saw  in  the  southern  Desert  of  Atacama  dead  for- 
ests of  algarrobo  in  the  sand.  They  were  dug  up  for  firewood.^ 
Plagemann  notes  the  existence  of  algarrobo  forests  sixty  or 
seventy  years  ago  close  to  the  village  of  Tarapaca  where  now  is 
complete  desert.^  People  of  that  village  supported  their  troops 
of  sheep  by  allowing  them  to  eat  the  fruits  of  the  trees.  Much 
of  the  wood  appears  to  have  been  cleared  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century  to  aid  in  a  new  desert  industry,  the 
exploitation  of  nitrate  from  Tirana  for  the  local — and  illegal — 
production  of  gunpowder  and  also  for  the  reduction  of  ores.^ 
The  present  exploitation  of  wood  at  Tarapaca  depends  chiefly 
upon  algarrobo  trees  brought  down  by  mountain  streams 
where  the  shifting  of  piedmont  stream  channels  had  under- 
mined algarrobales,  that  is  patches  of  algarrobo  woodland. 
One  should  not  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that  this  means 
necessarily  a  change  of  climate.  A  shift  in  a  piedmont  stream 
might  leave  a  long  tongue  of  algarrobo  forest  without  water 
and  kill  it  off,  floods  of  a  later  epoch  burying  the  fallen  trunks. 
The  drifting  of  sand,  the  alleged  increase  of  salt  deposits,  and 
possibly  a  change  of  climate  have  helped  bring  about  the 
disappearance  of  the  forests. 

2  Frezier:  Relation  du  voyage  de  la  mer  du  sud  aux  cotes  du  Chily  et  du  Perou  fait 
pendant  les  annees  1712,  1713  et  1714,  Paris,  1732,  p.  131. 

3  F.  J.  San  Roman:  Desierto  i  Cordilleras  de  Atacama,  2  vols.,  Santiago,  1896;  refer- 
ence in  Vol.  I,  p.  191. 

^  A  Plagemann:  Der  Chilesaltpeter,  Berlin,  1904,  p.  17. 

5  G.  E.  Billinghurst:  Estudio  sobre  la  geografia  de  Tarapaca,  Santiago,  1886, 
pp.  31-32. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY 


17 


Fig.  4 


■4^- 
¥"-(' 


.^-^'t^ 


i^-^.:^4  .*j«^,:^3'^^^«'^  *%&r  ->«_-»r  L  ^zx'zt-^*^  SU0LJ. 

Fig.  5 

Fig.  4 — Medanos,  or  sand  dunes,  marching  eastward  up  the  piedmont  slopes 
on  the  western  border  of  the  Central  Andes  east  of  Pica  (see  Fig.  i  for  location). 
They  are  formed  and  driven  by  the  regular  afternoon  wind  from  the  sea  that  gen- 
erally blows  with  gale  strength. 

Fig.  5 — The  so-called  "desert  pavement,"  the  finer  material  being  blown  away 
leaving  the  coarser  material  as  a  protective  covering. 


i8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

It  is  certain  that  algarrobo  played  a  great  role  in  the  food 
supply  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama, 
as  it  did  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains.  Fruits  and  many 
objects  made  of  algarrobo  wood  were  found  by  Eric  Boman 
in  the  graves  of  Calama.^ 


Piedmont  Oases 

For  several  miles  In  the  piedmont  stretch  our  trail  crossed 
dry  baked  mud  flats  where  the  flood  waters  are  impounded  in 
shallow  reservoirs  according  to  the  natural  depressions  of  the 
ground.  The  tops  of  the  blocks  between  the  mud  cracks  are 
curled  upward  and  break  into  thin  flakes  along  the  bedding 
planes  as  the  mules'  hoofs  dislodge  them.  A  strong  wind  had 
been  blowing  from  the  sea  during  the  afternoon,  and  It  had 
drifted  sand  from  near-by  sources  over  the  mud-cracked  sur- 
face, filling  in  the  spaces  between  the  cracks  and  the  curled 
edges  of  the  plates.  It  is  by  such  means  that  the  geologist, 
studying  mud  layers  visible  In  the  rocks  formed  In  remote  geo- 
logical ages,  determines  past  climates  and  other  conditions  of 
formation  in  places  that  now  may  have  plenty  of  moisture. 

Beyond  this  point  we  rode  farther  Into  the  piedmont  and 
entered  more  broken  country  where  we  experienced  great  diffi- 
culty in  keeping  the  trail,  for  each  traveler  had  apparently 
taken  his  own  route.  From  the  summits  of  the  ridges  between 
the  shallow  valleys  we  could  now  look  over  the  whole  width  of 
the  nitrate  pampa  and  see  the  low  hills  of  the  Coast  Range  out- 
lined against  the  dark  haze,  the  top  of  the  fog  bank,  that  hangs 
over  the  edge  of  the  Pacific.  The  desert  trail  where  It  crosses 
the  solars  appeared  broad  and  white  in  contrast  to  the  darker 
yellow  and  brown  of  the  untraveled  pampa  and  could  be  seen 
for  a  distance  of  at  least  fifteen  miles.  The  bright  yellow  light 
of  sunset  gave  place  to  purples  that  seemed  almost  to  creep  out 
of  the  mountains  and  the  sky  above  them  until  we  could  see  at 
first  faintly  and  then  more  clearly  the  lights  of  the  nitrate  works 
at  Alianza  on  the  western  border  of  the  nitrate  fields.    There 

6  Eric  Boman:  Antiquites  de  la  Region  Andine  de  la  Republique  Argentine  et  du 
Desert  d'Atacama,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1908;  reference  in  Vol.  2,  pp.  713-714. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  19 

was  no  moon,  and  the  darkness  came  rapidly  down  to  make  the 
going  still  more  difficult.  At  thesummitof  every  rise  the  guides 
would  look  about  for  the  light  at  Matilla,  and  presently  they 
located  it.  It  is  set  up  in  a  wooden  tower  to  guide  the  night 
traveler,  who  would  otherwise  be  lost  in  the  maze  of  ravines. 
By  three  in  the  morning  we  reached  the  floor  of  the  Quebrada 
de  Quisma  opposite  Matilla,  but  in  the  darkness  we  could  not 
find  the  ford,  and,  fearful  of  the  river  sands,  the  guides  thought 
it  best  to  make  camp  there.  We  set  fire  to  a  dry  bush  and  by  its 
light,  as  that  of  a  huge  torch,  prepared  a  meal  and  staked  out 
the  mules.    (For  illustration  of  Matilla  see  Frontispiece.) 

The  next  morning  we  found  the  ford  but  a  hundred  yards 
away,  crossed  over  to  Matilla,  and  rode  on  to  Pica  where  we 
spent  the  day.  Here  we  obtained  additional  blankets,  brought 
in  regular  trade  from  Bolivia  by  llama  caravan,  and  added  to 
our  stock  of  provisions.  The  next  day  took  us  across  the 
drifted  sand  tracts  east  of  Pica  (Fig.  4)  and  to  the  wells  at 
Tambillo,  the  last  outpost  of  the  desert  in  the  Andean  foothills. 

Water  Supply  of  the  Oases 

The  village  of  Matilla  is  supported  by  a  thin  thread  of  water 
that  issues  from  the  so-called  mountains  far  above,  the  Altos 
de  Pica.  They  are  really  a  plateau  and  part  of  an  even  surface 
that  extends  for  thirty  or  forty  miles  along  the  Andean  crest. 
Halfway  up  their  slopes  one  comes  upon  the  edge  of  a  belt  of 
grass  that  denotes  a  rainfall  slightly  heavier  and,  of  still  more 
importance,  regular  in  occurrence.  It  is  a  mid-mountain  belt  of 
annual  rains  and  permanent  pasture.  Almost  before  we  had 
time  to  note  the  first  spears  of  grass  at  about  8000  feet  we  also 
noted  the  first  bird  calls  we  had  heard  since  we  left  the  coast 
with  its  bewildering  millions  of  sea  fowl.  A  little  higher  and  we 
came  to  an  old  and  now  abandoned  corral  and  camp  site  where 
the  mountain  shepherds  from  the  eastern,  or  Bolivian,  side  of 
the  Andes  had  camped  in  traveling  down  to  the  desert  towns 
and  ports  or  had  pastured  their  llamas  for  a  time.  From  out 
this  zone  of  grassland  several  streams  run  to  converge  in  the 
Quebrada  de  Quisma  where  Matilla  lies. 


20  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

At  Pica,  on  the  piedmont  slope  to  one  side  of  the  stream 
courses,  tunnels  have  been  built  into  the  piedmont  deposits 
and  carry  the  water  by  low  gradients  down  to  the  intake  of  the 
pipes  and  canals  that  distribute  it.  We  rode  up  to  the  intake  of 
one  of  these  (La  Vertiente  del  Resbaladero)  and  saw  the  pool 
at  the  foot  of  cliffs  partly  encircling  a  cavelike  opening.  It  was 
at  that  time  the  chief  point  of  interest  in  the  town.  A  similar 
system  of  water  recovery  has  been  built  in  the  desert  places  of 
other  countries.  In  Persia  such  a  subterranean  conduit  is 
called  kanat,  in  Baluchistan  and  in  Turkestan  kariz.  In  Tidi- 
kelt  and  other  provinces  of  the  Algerian  Sahara  it  is  called  fog- 
gara,  and  all  who  have  worked  to  increase  its  yield  have  a  share 
in  the  flow.  A  recent  account  has  been  given  of  the  pits  and 
connecting  galleries  called  retharas  in  Morocco.'^  A  great  water 
tunnel  over  a  mile  long  has  been  built  near  a  dry  stream  bed 
close  to  the  Khojak  Pass  in  India;  and  southern  California  has 
a  number  of  like  tunnels,  some  with  "weep  holes"  where  the 
water  discharges  into  the  main  opening.^ 

The  entire  system  of  galleries  or  tunnels  at  Pica  is  one  of 
great  variety  of  structure  and  flow,  and  I  know  of  no  other 
town  in  South  America  that  has  so  many  of  them  or  that 
depends  so  completely  upon  the  artificial  recovery  of  the 
ground  water  for  both  its  drinking  water  and  its  irrigation. 
The  galleries  have  been  cut  in  a  soft  sandstone  which  is  yet 
sufficiently  hard  to  stand  up  under  its  own  weight  and  to  sup- 
port a  roof  of  the  same  material.  Only  in  certain  places  in  a 
few  galleries  is  a  small  amount  of  timbering  or  stonework  nec- 
essary. Some  are  lighted  for  a  part  of  their  length  and  care- 
fully kept  up,  others  are  dark  and  interrupted  here  and  there 
by  falls  of  sand  or  soft  rock  from  the  roof  or  the  somewhat 
overhanging  upper  walls.  From  the  largest  gallery,  the  Galeria 
Comifla,  water  is  supplied  at  the  rate  of  more  than  one  and  a 
half  liters  a  second;  but  its  earlier  rate  was  four  liters  a  second, 
the  decrease  being  due  to  the  failure  of  the  owners  to  keep  the 
floor  clear  and  the  intake  sufficiently  open.   Some  of  the  galler- 

'  Pierre  Troussu:  Les  retharas  de  Marrakech,  France-Maroc,  Vol.  3,  1919,  pp.  246- 
249. 

8  A.  P.  Davis  and  H.  M.  Wilson:  Irrigation  Engineering,  7th  edit..  New  York, 
1919,  p.  59. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  21 

ies  have  become  blocked,  and  the  water  collects  in  pools  back 
of  the  obstructions.  In  all,  there  are  at  least  fifteen  principal 
galleries  in  the  Pica  region .  They  have  a  total  length  of  1 2 ,980 
meters,  or  eight  miles,  the  Galeria  Comiiia  alone  being  2350 
meters  in  length.  The  shortest  is  the  Botijeria,  100  meters  long. 
The  total  discharge  of  the  fifteen  principal  galleries  is  36.37 
liters  (9.5  gallons)  a  second.  Besides  the  fifteen  galleries,  or 
tunnels,  there  are  eight  principal  springs  with  a  discharge  of 
118.98  liters  (31.5  gallons)  a  second,  or  three  times  as  great  as 
the  discharge  from  the  artificial  tunnels  or  galleries,  though 
these  have  been  produced  at  such  great  labor  and  expense. 

The  galleries,  or  tunnels,  have  been  built  in  part  by  the  vil- 
lage of  Pica,  in  part  by  private  individuals  for  purposes  of 
irrigation,  and  in  part  to  supply  water  for  the  pipe  lines  that 
run  to  desert  stations  and  to  Iquique.  Some  of  them  have 
branches  to  augment  the  supply,  some  of  them  end  in  abrupt 
walls  of  earth  from  which  the  water  oozes,  others  have  an 
indefinite  ending  where  the  tunnel  reaches  a  fault  or  penetrates 
a  water-bearing  stratum  from  which  a  supply  of  water  is  de- 
rived. Others  still  are  terminated  in  a  series  of  ascending  slopes 
in  order  to  furnish  a  larger  area  of  "bleeding"  surface  to  supply 
the  main  canal. ^ 

The  supply  of  water  from  tunnels  and  springs  is  variable; 
but  the  supply  from  the  springs  is  much  more  constant,  for  the 
feeding  spaces  in  the  subsoil  are  of  natural  origin.  This  is  an 
important  point  to  keep  in  mind  in  interpreting  the  diminished 
flow  which  is  reported  from  many  of  the  tunnels  and  which  has 
led  to  the  abandonment  of  some  of  the  cultivated  fields,  or 
chacras,  that  they  supply. 

Unlike  most  desert  towns  Pica  stands  in  the  midst  of  the 
desert  without  the  green  valley  that  elsewhere  gives  a  natural 
basis  for  settlement.  From  its  wells  and  springs  and  a  reservoir 
in  the  course  of  a  small  stream  descending  from  the  piedmont 
the  closely  compacted  gardens  of  the  village  are  watered  with 
scrupulous  economy.  We  walked  about  the  fruit  orchards  and 
irrigated  patches  of  vegetables  and  grass,  chatted  w4th  several 

''J.  Briiggen:  Informe  sobre  el  agua  subterranea  de  la  rejion  de  Pica,  Pubis,  del 
Servicio  Jeol.  No.  3,  Minist.  de  Industrias  i  Obras  Publicas,  Santiago,  191 8. 


22  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  the  officials  who  called  on  us,  and  talked  with  a  most  intelli- 
gent schoolmaster  from  southern  Chile.  The  town  is  but  little 
disturbed  by  the  government  taxgatherers ;  and  in  the  worst 
years,  as  when  the  stream  dwindles  or  the  dam  breaks  and 
ruins  both  fields  and  crops,  taxes  are  remitted  altogether. 


The  Cordilleran  Slopes 

From  each  oasis  on  the  desert  border  a  trail  climbs  the  cor- 
dilleran slopes.  In  places  it  follows  the  stream  bed.  In  other 
places  it  runs  along  the  flat  interfluves  or  climbs  perilously 
along  the  steep  side  of  a  deep  ravine.  In  some  cases  two  trails 
are  in  use,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Quebrada  de  Tarapaca  between 
Mocha  and  Sebaya,  where  the  valley  trail  is  impassable  during 
the  flood  season  when  sudden  deluges  fill  the  narrow  passage  of 
the  gorge.  More  commonly  this  duplication  of  trails  is  a  fea- 
ture of  the  Eastern  Cordillera,  where  heavy  rains  each  year 
make  it  necessary  to  have  a  dry-weather  and  a  wet-weather 
trail.  The  wet-weather  trail  follows  high  ground  and  has  a 
roundabout  and  longer  course  and  steep  gradients.  It  might  be 
called  an  emergency  trail  and  in  most  cases  is  abandoned  as 
soon  as  a  road  of  any  pretensions  has  been  built  with  bridges  or 
improved  fords  that  enable  the  graded  valley  trail  to  be  used 
practically  the  whole  year  round. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  lower  edge  of  the  belt  of  grass  that  lies 
like  a  band  across  the  western  face  of  the  mountains.  It  has 
also  an  upper  edge  where  the  short  and  nutritious  grasses  give 
way  to  the  bunch  grass,  or  ichu  grass  as  it  is  called,  and  ground 
mosses  and  resinous  shrubs  such  as  the  tola  bush.  The  grass  is 
in  the  temperate  zone  of  the  mountain  flank;  the  mosses  and 
resinous  shrubs  are  in  the  alpine  zone.  High  up  on  the  plateau 
summits  at  13,000  feet  we  were  surprised  to  find  the  large  and 
straight-stemmed  cactus  (cardSn)  where  there  are  nightly 
frosts  for  at  least  six  weeks  of  the  year  during  late  May,  June, 
and  early  July.  This  general  type  of  cactus  is  known  in  our 
Southwest  but  cannot  endure  frost  there.  The  belt  of  grass  be- 
tween 8000  feet  and  10,000  feet  extends  all  the  way  from  Peru, 
where  I  crossed  it  in  191 1   on  the  73rd  meridian,  southward 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY 


23 


^x.^ 


i'Jlitair-  43^' 


Fig.  6 


tJS'.'ik. 


s%i&*^i'?i^lR^ 


Fig.  <s 


Fig.  6 — An  apacheta  made  of  stones  thrown  into  place  by  passing  llama  drivers 
on  the  trail  between  Bolivia  and  Chile  near  the  southern  end  of  the  Cordillera  Sil- 
lilica,  elevation  14,200  feet. 

Fig.  7 — Wooden  cross  at  the  summit  of  the  desert  plain  east  of  Paita,  Peru,  in  a 
situation  similar  to  that  occupied  by  the  apachetas  of  the  Indians. 

Fig.  8 — An  apacheta  built  of  stones  and  adobe  and  serving  as  a  shrine  in  which 
coca  leaves,  pieces  of  candle,  and  bits  of  llama  wool  were  found  on  the  trail  be- 
tween Pastos  Grandes  and  Salar  de  Rincon  (See  Fig.  87). 


24  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

along  the  mountain  flanks  into  central  Chile.  On  page  246  I 
have  described  its  appearance  and  altitude  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  and  Soncor  where  we  crossed  it 
again  in  1913.  It  is  a  feature  of  the  mountains  that  has  all 
sorts  of  interesting  effects  upon  the  local  life,  fixing  the  position 
of  many  mountain  trails  and  determining  the  summer  pastur- 
ing grounds  of  the  mountain  Indians.  This  last  feature  is  more 
and  more  highly  developed  as  we  go  southward,  for  the  winters 
of  the  mountains  on  the  southern  edge  of  Atacama  are  pro- 
gressively more  severe,  and  the  grazing  folk  can  use  the  moun- 
tain pastures  for  a  part  of  the  year  only. 

The  last  part  of  the  ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  western- 
most plateau-like  block  of  the  Andes  steepens,  and  the  trail 
follows  now  the  rocky  interfluve,  all  sand  having  been  blown 
away,  and  now  a  steep-walled  quebrada  or  ravine  with  a 
bouldery  floor.  With  increasing  altitude  (to  14,000  feet) 
the  going  in  the  steepening  trail  becomes  more  and  more 
arduous,  and  it  is  with  a  keen  sense  of  appreciation  that  one 
sees  the  signo  del  camino,  or  pile  of  stones  that  marks  the  sum- 
mit. Each  traveler  adds  a  stone  for  good  luck,  and  thus  in 
the  course  of  generations  the  pile  has  grown  to  the  dimensions 
shown  in  Figure  6.  The  feature  is  encountered  in  many 
places  in  different  forms.  Sometimes  it  is  a  cross,  sometimes  a 
pretentious  structure  serving  as  a  shrine  (Figs.  7  and  8). 

After  crossing  the  Altos  de  Pica,  a  broad  plateau  of  erosion 
now  uplifted  to  the  great  height  of  14,000  feet  and  partly 
covered  with  an  overflow  of  lava,  we  dropped  down  a  steep 
trail  toward  Lake  Huasco  and  made  camp  beside  the  spring 
at  the  western  edge  of  the  basin.  There  was  plenty  of  tola 
about,  and  with  this  and  the  droppings  of  the  llamas  that  had 
been  herded  in  a  stone  corral  at  the  camp  site  we  made  a  camp- 
fire  and  spent  a  comfortable  night  except  for  the  effects  of  the 
altitude.  I  had  first  felt  its  effects  at  10,000  feet,  but  they  wore 
off  quickly;  whereas  my  companion,  Mr.  Rogers,  felt  them  not 
at  all  until  we  had  reached  13,000  feet  when  he  became  alarm- 
ingly ill.  The  next  morning  he  was  about  as  usual  and  had 
almost  no  return  of  the  symptoms  during  the  rest  of  the 
journey. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  25 

The  Huasco  Basin 

The  next  day  we  rested  our  beasts  at  Lake  Huasco,  and  with 
one  of  the  guides  I  crossed  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  basin 
about  twelve  miles  distant  to  study  the  volcanoes  there  and 
also  to  skirt  its  southern  edge,  where  old  shore  lines  were 
clearly  visible.  The  so-called  "lake"  that  now  occupies  but  a 
portion  of  the  salt-encrusted  floor  is  but  the  shrunken  remnant 
of  a  once  large  and  deep  lake  that  filled  the  whole  depression. 
On  the  return  in  the  late  afternoon  we  rode  through  a  broad 
patch  of  alluvium  that  was  invested  with  vizcacha.  The  holes 
of  these  beasts  honeycombed  the  soil,  and  our  mules  repeat- 
edly stumbled  and  fell.  I  was  frequently  to  encounter  such 
colonies  all  the  way  through  the  mountains  from  central  Peru 
to  northwestern  Argentina.  On  a  winter's  morning  the  holes 
are  marked  by  a  fringe  of  hoarfrost.  Sometimes  one  may  hear 
the  vizcacha  chattering  to  each  other  beyond  the  turn  of  a 
canyon  wall  and  surprise  them  in  a  small  group,  but  except  in 
the  most  remote  localities  they  dodge  out  of  sight  so  quickly 
that  all  that  one  can  make  out  is  the  merest  flash  of  fur. 
Their  skins  are  of  little  or  no  value,  although  many  attempts 
have  been  made  to  market  them.  They  are  near  relatives  of  the 
rarer  chinchilla. 

The  trail  from  Huasco  eastward  climbs  the  long  piedmont 
slope  that  stretches  forward  from  the  Cordillera  Sillilica, 
crossing  over  the  pass  at  the  southern  end  whence  a  good  view 
of  the  peaks  of  this  volcanic  chain  fills  the  northern  horizon. 
They  are  young  volcanic  cones  with  a  plentiful  snow  cover  in 
winter.  We  passed  there  in  late  May,  which  is  the  beginning 
of  the  southern  winter,  and  though  they  appeared  to  have 
permanent  snow  fields,  especially  on  Mt.  Lorima,  I  was  too 
far  away  to  make  sure  of  this. 

In  Peru  practically  all  of  the  mountain  basins  have  exits 
through  which  they  discharge  to  lower  levels.  This  Is  true  of 
the  smaller  basins  like  Anta  and  Cuzco  as  well  as  the  largest  of 
all,  Titlcaca.  In  northern  Chile,  western  and  southwestern 
Bolivia,  and  northwestern  Argentina,  on  the  contrary,  the 
basins  are  mostly  self-contained  and  have  no  exits.  It  was  a 
great  satisfaction  to  cross  the  Chilean  cordillera  into  Bolivia 


26  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

in  the  latitude  in  which  this  change  occurs.  The  SilliHca  trail 
hits  both  Lake  Huasco,  as  I  have  described,  and  also  a  group 
of  smaller  basins  between  it  and  the  central  salt  pan  of  western 
Bolivia  at  Llica.  Huasco  was  at  one  time  filled  with  water 
almost  to  the  point  of  overflowing;  and  one  after  another  of 
the  neighboring  mountain  basins  had  the  same  fate  in  the  Ice 
Age,  when  a  wetter  climate  turned  these  now  shallow  grass- 
bordered  evaporating  pans  into  deep  lakes  filled  almost  to 
their  brims. 

Mountain  Settlements 

After  three  uneventful  days  of  journeying  across  the  high 
mountain  belt  in  which  we  passed  only  a  few  tiny  settlements 
of  a  few  huts  each  (a  principal  one  is  called  Cueva  Negra) ,  we 
arrived  at  Llica  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  mountains  in 
Bolivia  (12,000  feet).  We  entered  the  town  late  at  night  after 
riding  into  a  bitter  wind  that  blew  off  the  cold  salars  lying  just 
east  of  the  village.  The  mules  floundered  in  the  morass  at  the 
edge  of  the  salar  that  here  skirts  the  mountain  border,  and  we 
should  have  had  a  cheerless  camp  indeed  but  for  the  happy 
coming  of  a  Bolivian  shepherd  who  had  returned  from  his 
mountain  camp  in  time  to  guide  us  by  a  narrow  course  to  the 
end  of  the  principal  street  of  the  village.  The  place  was  quite 
dark,  not  a  single  light  showing  anywhere.  The  clatter  of  our 
pack  train  awoke  dogs  and  villagers,  for  the  coming  of  a 
stranger  after  nightfall  is  a  most  unusual  event  in  this  remote 
place.  At  length  we  reached  a  sort  of  public  place  where  we 
obtained  lodging  in  a  small  room  that  had  first  been  cleared  of 
pigs  and  chickens  and  then  swept.  Tea  and  eggs  and  such 
bread,  hard  as  a  rock,  as  we  had  carried  from  Lagunas  in  the 
nitrate  desert  formed  our  supper.  The  next  day  we  rode  north 
along  the  shore  line  that  here  stands  out  prominently  along  the 
mountain  side  and  out  over  the  salar  a  short  distance  to  study 
the  composition  of  its  surface.  Then  we  talked  with  the  single 
merchant  of  the  town  about  the  llama  caravans  and  pack 
trains  that  come  here,  the  source  of  food — the  life  here  is  al- 
most exclusively  pastoral — and  the  ways  of  the  mountain  folk 
who  live  in  these  secluded  valleys. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  27 

Although  all  of  the  plateau  and  mountain  people  are  shy, 
those  of  western  Bolivia  on  the  edge  of  the  cordillera  are  quite 
remarkably  timid  and  suspicious,  as  we  discovered  the  next 
day  when  we  rode  out  of  Llica  southward  along  the  edge  of  the 
mountains.  A  bold  wall  of  lava  here  overlooks  the  salt  basins. 
The  floors  of  the  little  valleys  that  have  been  cut  in  the  border 
of  the  mountain  country  are  the  sites  of  tiny  settlements.  On 
the  first  day  we  passed  Canquilla.  The  village  appeared  com- 
pletely deserted  as  we  approached  it  at  midday.  Almost  at  the 
outskirts  of  Suisigua,  where  we  camped  for  the  night,  we  saw  a 
girl  with  a  water  jar  on  her  head.  She  stood  stock  still  at  the 
sight  of  us  and  then  disappeared.  When  we  came  to  the  top  of 
the  next  rise  we  saw  her  running  at  top  speed  back  to  the  vil- 
lage. We  rode  on  into  the  town,  past  barred  houses,  without  a 
sign  of  life  until  at  last  we  reached  an  open  door  where  our 
rapping  brought  out  a  very  old  woman  who  said  at  once  and 
almost  automatically  "No  hay"  (there  is  none)  to  every  ques- 
tion we  asked  about  food  for  ourselves  and  forage  for  the 
beasts.  Seeing  a  pile  of  green  barley  in  a  corral  we  helped  our- 
selves to  it  with  the  thought  of  compensating  the  owner  when 
he  appeared.  Darkness  came  on,  and  still  there  was  no  sign  of 
life,  neither  voices  nor  lights.  We  had  just  prepared  for  bed 
when  we  were  startled  by  a  squeaky  voice  at  the  corral  gate, 
and  our  guide  came  to  tell  us  that  the  owner  of  the  barley 
wanted  to  know  if  it  was  our  intention  to  pay  for  it.  We  told 
him  that  we  would  pay  him  well  if  he  also  brought  us  eggs. 
When  he  returned  we  paid  him  and  had  him  back  the  next 
morning  to  tell  us  where  the  next  camp  site  could  be  found. 

The  next  night  we  reached  Laqueca.  The  village  lies  in  an 
eastward-facing  hollow  where  there  is  a  stream  to  irrigate  the 
green  barley  fields  and  supply  the  water  jars  of  the  houses.  It 
is  but  a  cluster  of  mud  huts  each  a  single  story  in  height,  with 
the  customary  grass  thatch  and  windowless  walls.  The  streets, 
if  one  may  call  them  such,  are  narrow  and  unpaved.  It  is  the 
home  of  a  group  of  families  that  almost  never  see  a  white  man 
pass.  It  was  the  same  at  Canquilla  the  day  before.  There  are 
thirty  or  forty  huts  at  Laqueca  that  appear  quite  deserted. 
We  eventually  found  one  old  man  and  two  children,  but  we 


28  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

could  not  get  near  the  latter  who  kept  peeping  out  at  us  from 
behind  the  corners  of  huts.  All  the  rest  of  the  villagers  were 
scattered  about  the  hillsides  herding  llamas  and  sheep  or  gath- 
ering and  threshing  their  crop  of  barley  and  quinoa,  for  this 
was  the  harvest  season. 

The  prices  one  must  pay  in  such  tiny  settlements  vary  with 
the  year  and  the  locality.  One  place  may  have  a  scarcity  of 
forage  and  charge  more  for  green  barley  and  eggs  than  we 
should  have  to  pay  in  New  York  City.  Bargaining  is  abso- 
lutely necessary,  but  at  best  we  were  able  to  get  eggs  only  by 
paying  20  cents  Bolivian  money,  or  5  cents  gold,  apiece.  At 
Llica  our  repeated  requests  for  eggs  brought  out  the  informa- 
tion that  the  last  of  them  had  been  sold  the  day  before  to  a 
stranger  who  had  come  from  Oruro  and  that  it  would  be  days 
before  the  supply  would  be  replenished.  Our  bill  at  Llica  for 
two  nights  and  the  intervening  day  carried  no  charge  for  the 
room  we  occupied  but  only  for  the  food  and  candles  and  fire- 
wood we  had  consumed,  because  a  room  can  be  made  of  mud 
and  lasts  a  lifetime,  but  food  and  candles  are  rare  and  costly. 

LInlike  the  tributary  villages  with  their  shy  folk  the  village 
of  Llica  is  comparatively  cosmopolitan.  It  has  upwards  of  200 
houses.  All  roofs  are  neatly  thatched,  and  the  streets  are  ex- 
ceptionally clean.  A  single  store,  kept  by  a  Bolivian,  is  a  meet- 
ing place  for  thick-tongued  Indians  who  guzzle  brandy  and 
buy  small  supplies  of  bread,  candles,  and  barley.  The  town  is 
the  meeting  place  of  the  trails  that  run  along  the  eastern  foot 
of  the  mountains  or  connect  the  mountain  border  settlements 
and  also  those  that  cross  the  Western  Cordillera.  They  are 
followed  by  Indian  traders  who  carry  wool,  firewood,  blankets, 
and  the  like  all  the  way  from  western  Bolivia  across  the  lofty 
mountains  to  the  desert  settlements  along  the  foot  of  the 
Andes,  where  they  exchange  them  for  cotton  cloth  for  under- 
garments and  general  use  and  for  alcohol  which  they  smuggle 
in  without  paying  duty  since  the  trade  is  too  small  to  main- 
tain the  charge  of  customs  stations.  They  walk  great  dis- 
tances without  food.  Our  mountain  guide  walked  fifty  miles 
without  stopping  for  food,  chewing  coca  all  the  time  and  keep- 
ing up  with  the  mules  without  difficulty. 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  29 

It  is  only  after  winning  the  confidence  of  the  mountain  In- 
dians hereabout  that  one  is  able  to  get  them  to  speak  Spanish. 
From  our  "host"  at  Suisigua  we  learned  that  the  harvest  sea- 
son was  on.  The  native  "grain,"  quinoa,  was  being  threshed  by 
tramping  and  winnowed  by  pitching  it  into  the  wind.  In  a  few 
favored  spots  barley  will  ripen.  Much  of  it  is  cut  green  for 
forage,  and  that  which  matures  is  used  for  soup  and  carried  ofif 
to  Llica  or  elsewhere  for  sale.  Fifteen  or  twenty  alluvial  fans 
at  the  base  of  the  surrounding  hills  are  covered  with  little 
farms.  The  grains  of  barley  and  quinoa  are  planted  in  tiny 
holes  several  inches  below  the  surface  in  order  the  better  to  get 
moisture,  that  which  seeps  down  the  mountain  side  and  that 
which  comes  by  way  of  the  narrow  and  tiny  irrigating  ditch. 
The  grain  is  pulled  up  by  the  roots ;  whether  because  that  is  the 
easier  way  or  to  prevent  waste  we  could  not  discover.  There 
was  the  most  unusual  excitement  in  contrast  to  the  dead  vil- 
lage we  had  seen  the  night  before.  Children  were  running 
about,  almost  as  noisy  as  children  elsewhere  except  when  we 
rode  up  to  the  threshing  scene.  Herds  of  llamas  and  sheep 
were  grazing  on  the  dry  and  barren  mountain  sides,  and  here 
and  there  rose  a  column  of  smoke  from  a  pile  of  burning  straw. 
Though  I  had  to  stop  for  breath  every  few  minutes,  the  people 
who  lived  here  seemed  to  mind  it  not  at  all ;  and  children  and 
adults  walked  with  a  long  free  stride  and  even  ran  about  or 
shouted  to  each  other  as  if  they  were  not  living  more  than  two 
miles  and  a  half  above  sea  level. 


A  Lost  Trail 

From  Suisigua  our  course  was  southward  past  Laqueca. 
We  had  planned  to  go  to  the  end  of  the  Salar  de  Empexa  and 
thence  by  way  of  the  Salar  de  Coposa  to  the  head  of  the  can- 
yon of  the  Huatacondo.  The  first  day's  journey  led  along  the 
edge  of  salt  basins  or  along  perfectly  dry  stream  beds  over  the 
low  divides  between  adjacent  basins.  The  "trail"  consisted  of 
a  llama  track  which  became  less  distinct  toward  nightfall  and 
at  last  disappeared  altogether.  We  made  a  dry  camp  at  the 
edge  of  the  Salar  de  Empexa,  and  there  the  mules  consumed 


30  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

the  last  of  the  green  barley  we  had  carried  from  Sulsigua.  We 
had  carried  an  extra  water  supply  for  ourselves  and  left  over 
until  the  next  day  a  flask  apiece  for  ourselves  and  the  guides. 
Though  there  were  many  signs  of  water  action  all  about,  there 
was  as  little  available  water  as  in  the  nitrate  desert.  We  had 
expected  to  find  it  everywhere  in  the  high  mountain  country; 
but  it  was  early  winter,  and  winter  is  the  dry  season  in  the 
mountains.  Doubtless  the  alluvium  held  sweet  water,  but 
there  was  little  of  it  after  the  first  day.  Most  of  the  streams 
west  of  the  line  of  salars  have  rock  floors  or  run  over  a  thin 
layer  of  coarse  rock  debris.  We  could  return  to  Laqueca  and  on 
the  morning  of  the  second  day  anxiously  discussed  this  possi- 
bility. The  guides  had  inquired  of  the  llama  herders  at  La- 
queca and  Suisigua  as  to  the  condition  of  the  trail  along  the 
Salar  de  Empexa  and  were  told  that  only  bitter  waters  could 
be  found.  They  advised  taking  a  westward-bearing  trail,  and 
this  we  did.  Although  we  traveled  through  high  and  broken 
country  all  day,  we  again  passed  not  even  a  trickle  of  water  ex- 
cept in  the  early  morning.  Through  a  belt  of  variegated  cop- 
per-bearing rock,  where  we  saw  signs  of  prospecting  at  an 
earlier  time,  there  ran  a  tiny  stream ;  but  it  was  so  salty  that  we 
could  drink  none  of  it,  and  the  mules  but  little.  At  sight  of 
every  ravine  we  confidently  expected  water  only  to  be  disap- 
pointed, and  at  nightfall  we  were  in  a  worse  situation  than  be- 
fore. Our  water  flasks  were  now  quite  empty,  and  we  were 
suffering  from  thirst.  It  was  useless  to  prepare  food.  The 
mules  refused  to  eat  the  dry  barley  that  we  had  carried  from 
the  start  for  an  emergency.  The  guides  came  to  our  tent  and 
mournfully  confessed  that  they  were  hopelessly  lost.  Our  camp 
was  under  the  lee  of  a  rock  cliff,  and  our  dejected  mules  were 
tied  to  the  tola  bushes  that  grew  on  the  floor  of  the  ravine 
below  us. 

All  day  the  sky  had  been  overcast,  and  this  added  to  the 
anxiety  of  the  guides  who  feared  that  we  should  be  caught  in  a 
snowstorm.  Yet  in  fact  this  ended  our  anxiety;  for  after  mid- 
night snow  began  to  fall,  and  we  immediately  melted  a  kettle 
of  it  and  had  tea  and  biscuits  all  round.  By  daybreak  several 
inches  of  snow  had  fallen,  and  the  trails  were  completely  hid- 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY 


31 


Fig.  9 


Fig.  10 

Fig.  9 — Dissected  volcanic  country  at  the  eastern  border  of  the  Western  Andes, 
a  day's  journey  (about  25  miles)  southwest  of  Llica,  Bolivia. 

Fig.  id — A  typical  sand-choked  valley  with  a  wild  growth  of  shrubs  and  grasses 
at  the  piedmont  border  (below  the  oasis  of  Soncor,  near  San  Pedro  de  Atacama). 


32  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

den.  Even  the  landmarks  of  the  day  before  were  so  unfamiliar 
to  us  that  we  had  little  hope  of  returning  along  the  route  over 
which  we  had  come.  Thereafter  we  went  west  through  a  maze 
of  ravines  and  volcanoes  thoroughly  covered  with  snow  that 
fell  almost  without  interruption  until  after  dark.  While  there 
was  still  a  little  light  we  descended  into  a  basin  which  I  in- 
stantly recognized  as  that  of  Huasco  which  we  had  crossed  the 
week  before.  The  guides,  Lindor  and  Pedro,  insisted  that  we 
were  a  hundred  miles  farther  south.  In  searching  for  a  settle- 
ment that  he  was  sure  he  could  find  in  a  half  hour,  Lindor  en- 
couraged us  by  calling  out  again  and  again  that  he  was  crossing 
a  trail  and  that  the  village  must  be  near.  After  nearly  an  hour 
of  this  I  inspected  the  trail  with  a  flashlight  and  found  that  it 
was  our  own  and  that  we  were  crossing  and  recrossing  it  by 
circling  around  toward  the  left.  We  had  ridden  all  day  with  a 
wind  blowing  from  the  left,  and  when  it  stopped  we  bore  off 
in  that  direction.  The  next  morning  the  pattern  of  our  trails 
was  spread  over  a  half  mile  of  snow  beyond  our  tent. 

We  camped  in  the  snow  again  without  supper  quite  over- 
come with  fatigue  from  the  steady  roar  of  the  wind  in  our  ears 
all  day  long  and  the  heavy  walking  we  had  done  in  the  snow  at 
the  high  altitude  to  relieve  our  famished  mules.  The  following 
morning  we  found  a  spring  a  mile  or  more  away  at  the  southern 
edge  of  the  basin  and  there  filled  our  water  flasks  and  watered 
our  beasts.  All  that  day  we  floundered  in  snow,  making  a 
southward  course.  Though  the  morning  had  been  clear  and 
cold,  snow  now  fell  occasionally,  and  the  wind  drifted  that 
which  had  already  fallen.  By  mid-afternoon  the  going  was  not 
only  extremely  difflcult  but  unsafe,  yet  we  were  obliged  to  keep 
on  and  get  below  the  snow  line  if  possible.  In  spite  of  our 
difficult  situation  we  stopped  for  a  half  hour  at  the  end  of  the 
day  to  admire  the  most  remarkable  display  of  sunset  colors 
that  I  have  ever  seen. 

We  descended  into  the  steep  head  of  a  shallow  ravine  and 
got  below  the  snow  cover  with  the  last  of  the  daylight.  An 
hour  farther  on  and  we  found  a  turn  in  the  ravine  where  there 
was  at  least  a  little  shelter  from  the  bitter  down-valley  wind 
and  made  there  our  fourth  dry  camp  and  went  supperless  to 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  33 

sleep.  Lindor  had  fallen  off  his  mule  before  we  could  reach 
him  when  the  pack  train  stopped.  There  was  still  one  long  and 
hard  day  before  we  could  hope  to  get  to  pasture  and  water. 
The  next  day's  trail  led  across  a  series  of  ravines  that  seemed 
endless.  By  midday  we  reached  the  head  of  the  Chacarilla 
canyon  and  tried  to  go  directly  down  over  the  talus  slopes;  but 
the  boulders  were  so  huge,  and  the  going  so  perilous  for  the 


•  ^  .   -  .  '^  \  L  !■  \"\       _         _ 

Fig.  II  —  W  iml-rippk-d  sand  duiii-  on  the  borderol  the  Salar  de  AtdLauui,  near 
Soncor.     Compare  with  Figure  4,  page  17.     See  Figure  i  for  location. 

mules,  that  we  climbed  again  to  the  rim  and  continued  the 
wearisome  process  of  skirting  the  entire  border  of  the  huge 
amphitheater  that  forms  the  head  of  the  canyon.  What  made 
the  process  particularly  tantalizing  was  the  sight  of  green  pas- 
ture and  a  pool  of  water  at  the  foot  of  the  gorge  wall .  But  the 
thousand  feet  of  descent  was  more  difficult  than  the  miles  of 
circuit  we  were  making  to  the  springs  of  Caya. 

The  Oasis  of  Caya 

The  oasis  of  Caya  has  an  elevation  of  11,500  feet.  It  is 
merely  a  camp  site,  not  a  place  of  settlement.  In  this  respect 
it  is  like  a  number  of  other  places  indicated  upon  the  Iquique 
sheet  of  the  American  Geographical  Society's  Millionth  Map 


34  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  Hispanic  America.  Grass  and  water  are  to  be  had  at  marshy 
spots  at  the  foot  of  headwater  scarps,  and  every  one  of  these 
green  patches  is  known  to  men  who  follow  the  trails.  As  the 
contours  on  the  Iquique  sheet  plainly  show,  there  is  a  flat 
tabular  element  in  the  relief  of  the  crest  of  the  Cordillera  that 
continues  all  the  way  from  the  Cordillera  Sillilica,  a  little  south 
of  latitude  20°  S.,  southward  through  the  entire  sheet  and 
even  into  the  Atacama  sheet  beyond.  These  flat  tabular 
masses  are  separated  by  very  deep  and  steep-sided  ravines  and 
canyons,  which  are  completely  hidden  if  one  stands  upon  the 
summit  of  one  of  the  plateau-like  tracts  and  looks  lengthwise 
along  the  range.  So  conspicuous  are  the  tabular  masses  and 
so  different  from  the  general  character  of  the  peaks  east  of 
them  that  form  clusters  and  ranges  upon  the  watershed  that 
they  have  been  given  specific  names.  For  example  on  the 
northern  border  of  the  Iquique  sheet  in  longitude  69°  and 
almost  due  east  of  Iquique  are  the  "Altos  de  Sitilca,"  south 
of  them  the  "Altos  de  Pica,"  both  of  which  exceed  4000 
meters  (13,000  feet)  in  elevation.  South  of  Calama  are  similar 
masses,  most  of  which  are  called  "cerros,"  the  term  being  used 
not  in  the  usual  sense  as  indicating  an  isolated  hill  or  hills  but 
in  the  sense  of  elevated  tracts  of  land  crowned  by  isolated 
hills;  and  between  these  cerros  are  broad  and  rather  flat  high- 
level  tracts  whose  borders  are  the  gathering  grounds  of  waste 
from  the  mountains,  strewn  in  broad  belts  where  the  plain  and 
the  plateau  meet.  The  latter  are  called  "  llanos."  Examples 
appear  upon  the  Iquique  sheet  (about  latitude  23°  S.,  longi- 
tude 68°  30' W.)  in  the  "Llano  del  Quimal"  and  the  " Llano  de 
la  Paciencia."  Between  the  Llano  de  la  Paciencia  and  the 
Salar  de  Atacama  there  lies  the  Cerros  de  la  Sal.  The  latter 
again  illustrates  the  tabular  character  of  a  great  deal  of  the 
relief  that  constitutes  the  western  flank  and  summit  of  the 
Western  Cordillera.  Seen  from  the  eastern  side  of  the  Salar  de 
Atacama  the  Cerros  de  la  Sal  has  a  strikingly  even  sky  line. 
I  have  photographed  it  over  a  horizontal  distance  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  miles  and  crossed  it  on  the  trail  to  Calama,  where  its 
complicated  structure  and  its  even  top  are  in  marked  dis- 
cordance and  indicate  an  old  relief  developed  at  a  lower  level 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  35 

and  now  warped  upward  to  form  a  part  of  the  summit  arch 
of  the  western  part  of  the  great  Andean  chain. 

The  pastures  of  Caya,  to  which  I  have  referred,  lie  at  the 
head  of  one  of  the  deep  canyons  that  cut  across  the  tabular 
western  portion  of  the  cordillera  from  their  sources  in  volca- 
noes and  high  volcanic  masses  to  the  eastward  that  form  the 
crest  line  and  watershed  of  the  Western  Cordillera  of  the 
Andes.  The  trail  from  Caya  at  first  climbs  up  to  the  summit 
of  a  minor  watershed,  then  passes  over  a  knifelike  ridge  so  nar- 
row that  there  is  room  at  the  top  merely  for  the  foot-wide 
trail.  At  one  point  one  can  look  down  over  the  flank  of  one's 
riding  mule  a  full  1000  feet  to  the  foot  of  a  precipice  and  steep 
talus  that  form  a  part  of  the  canyon  wall.  The  slightest  mis- 
step would  precipitate  beast  and  rider  down  this  great  preci- 
pice, and  it  can  be  a  question  of  only  a  short  time  until  the 
ridge  itself  is  attacked  by  weathering  agencies  and  a  new 
trail  must  then  be  located.  Farther  down,  the  trail  makes  the 
steep  descent  of  the  valley  or  canyon  by  caracoles,  or  zigzags, 
and  shortly  after  reaching  the  canyon  floor  leads  to  the  oasis  of 
Chacarilla.  The  settlement  is  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
valley  at  a  point  where  a  small  tributary  stream  comes  down 
from  the  altos,  or  heights,  and  where  the  waters  of  the  Que- 
brada  de  Chacarilla  can  be  led  out  through  irrigating  canals  to 
the  gardens  of  the  oasis  dwellers.  It  is  near  the  now  abandoned 
copper  mines  of  Victoria,  which  were  for  a  time  the  scene  of 
some  mining  interest.  There  were  only  a  few  people  about  at 
the  time  of  our  visit,  and  in  all  there  could  not  have  been  more 
than  forty  or  fifty  separate  habitations.  From  one  of  them  a 
woman  came  running  out  to  the  edge  of  a  terrace  that  over- 
looks the  trail  and  inquired  if  we  were  Englishmen  from  the 
coast  and  if  we  were,  if  we  had  any  condensed  milk  with  us. 
Speaking  in  Spanish  she  told  us  that  she  had  a  very  young 
baby  and  that  her  breasts  had  dried  up  and  she  was  unable 
to  feed  it.  When  we  told  her  regretfully  that  the  last  of  our 
condensed  milk  had  been  used  that  morning  and  that  we 
were  practically  without  any  food  ourselves,  she  said,  "Then 
if  you  have  no  milk  my  baby  must  die."  The  tragedy  seemed 
to  strike  us  more  deeply  than  it  did  her,  for  she  immediately 


36  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

began  to  talk  of  other  things  and  to  Inquire  about  our  route 
and  our  destination  as  casually  as  she  might  under  happier 
circumstances. 

Return  to  the  Desert 

After  several  weeks  in  the  mountains  and  highlands  at  great 
elevations  and  with  freezing  temperatures  at  night,  we  found 
the  soft,  balmy  air  that  swept  up  the  canyon  from  the  desert 
an  immense  relief,  and  our  spirits  returned  with  every  foot  of 
descent.  We  sang  and  shouted  like  boys  out  of  school  and 
peeled  off  one  layer  after  another  of  clothing  as  the  air  grew 
warmer  and  warmer.  The  only  source  of  discomfort  was 
In  cracked  and  chapped  hands  and  faces.  Every  exposed 
portion  of  our  necks  and  heads  was  covered  with  a  scabby 
crust,  the  result  of  glare  from  the  snow  and  the  drying  effect  of 
the  high  winds  we  had  experienced. 

.  A  shrubby  vegetation  now  began  to  come  In  and  increased 
in  height  until  nightfall,  at  Algarrobal,  at  an  elevation  of 
about  6000  feet  we  camped  in  the  midst  of  a  small  scattered 
grove  of  algarrobo  trees.  Here  we  saw  signs  of  terracing  and 
of  irrigating  canals  that  had  been  constructed  years  before 
but  abandoned  since  an  unusually  destructive  flood  had 
devastated  the  site.  Our  mules  found  at  least  scant  pasture, 
and  we  ourselves  had  a  comfortable  night's  rest  for  the  first 
time  since  we  had  left  Pica  several  weeks  before.  Our  food 
boxes  contained  nothing  but  a  little  oatmeal,  which  we  were 
almost  unable  to  eat,  and  some  sweet  crackers  which  we  could 
not  eat  at  all;  but  eating  of  any  sort  was  almost  out  of  the 
question,  for  as  we  came  down  to  lower  elevations  our  thirst 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  we  could  do  without  water 
for  hardly  more  than  fifteen  minutes  at  a  stretch. 

From  Algarrobal  we  set  out  the  following  morning  and  by  a 
little  after  midday  had  reached  Pique,  where  there  are  wells 
and  shade  trees.  It  is  a  pumping  station  for  the  nitrate  works 
of  Allanza  farther  west.  After  we  had  rested  our  beasts  and 
ourselves,  and  the  sun  had  declined  to  the  point  where  the 
desert  heat  and  glare  on  the  salt-incrusted  surface  were  no 
longer  unendurable,  we  started  with  our  pack  train  westward 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY 


37 


Fig.  12 


'&i»:^A»Z5ij  -^-,»^„ 


fM^^.£.^^m 


Fig.  I 


Fig.  12 — The  oasis  of  Monte  la  Soledad  dependent  upon  a  single  well. 
Fig.  13 — Alfalfa  pastures  at  Calama  in  the  Loa  valley,  with  the  Andes  as  a 
background. 


38  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

over  the  Salar  de  Bella  Vista  to  the  nitrate  establishment  of 
Alianza,  arriving  long  after  dark  and  glad  to  accept  the  hos- 
pitality of  the  nitrate  officials  there.  No  welcome  could  be 
more  cordial  than  that  which  these  Englishmen  gave  us,  and 
they  instantly  telephoned  word  of  our  arrival  to  the  nitrate 
oficina  at  Lagunas.  They  had  heard  the  day  before  that  we 
had  overstayed  our  period  of  exploration  in  the  mountains, 
and  great  anxiety  was  felt  partly  on  this  account  and  because 
of  our  limited  food  supply  and  partly  on  account  of  the  heavy 
snows  that  had  blanketed  the  mountains  for  days  and  in 
which  they  knew  we  must  surely  have  been  caught.  It  had 
been  planned  to  organize  several  searching  parties  to  set  out 
the  following  day  by  different  routes  into  the  mountains. 
From  Alianza  we  went  by  train  to  Lagunas  the  following  day, 
our  pack  train  going  down  under  the  care  of  the  guides.  As  a 
result  of  the  ejffects  of  the  altitude  and  of  the  change  in  the 
quality  of  the  water,  and  of  our  excessive  use  of  the  desert  wa- 
ter when  we  first  came  down,  we  were  ill  for  a  week  at  Lagunas. 
As  soon  as  we  were  able  to  manage  it  we  started  out  again 
southward  through  the  desert.  Our  first  day's  journey  was 
from  Lagunas  seventy-five  miles  by  trail  southward  by  way 
of  Monte  la  Soledad  and  the  Pampa  del  Tamarugal  to  Quil- 
lagua,  in  the  Loa  valley.  This  course  is  now  covered  by  a 
railway,  but  at  that  time  it  was  virgin  desert  with  no  sign  of 
habitation  in  that  entire  stretch  except  a  cluster  of  huts  at 
Monte  la  Soledad  (Fig.  12),  where  lived  a  family  of  three — 
father,  mother,  and  son — maintaining  themselves  by  means  of 
a  single  well  and  a  mixed  flock  of  goats  and  sheep  supple- 
mented by  a  few  riding  mules  and  fowl.  It  was  the  smallest 
and  the  most  isolated  settlement  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  the 
desert,  but  it  was  once  a  little  larger,  the  rest  of  the  inhabit- 
ants having  gone  to  work  in  the  nitrate  fields.  By  contrast, 
Quillagua  in  the  Loa  valley  is  in  a  broad,  fertile,  terraced  val- 
ley; and,  although  the  Loa  River  is  notorious  for  its  content  of 
salt,  the  inhabitants  manage  to  irrigate  their  fields  from  it  and 
from  a  few  bordering  brooks,  springs,  and  seepage  lines  and 
thus  to  maintain  what  is  by  contrast  to  most  desert  settle- 
ments a  prosperous-looking  community  of  farmers  and  shep- 


A  DESERT  JOURNEY  39 

herds.  Trees  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  high  may  be  seen  here, 
and  there  are  expanses  of  marshy  ground  too  salty  to  allow  a 
good  growth  of  alfalfa  but  with  sufficient  pasture  to  attract 
herds  for  a  part  of  the  year  (Fig.  13). 

From  Quillagua  our  course  lay  up  the  valley  side  and  to  the 
desert  again,  to  the  nitrate  establishments  on  the  border  of 
the  valley.  The  river  has  been  dammed,  and  electrical  works 
have  been  installed  to  furnish  power  for  the  nitrate  works  at 
Santa  Fe.  The  cost  of  the  installation  was  large,  but  the 
very  high  price  of  imported  coal  induced  the  use  of  water 
power;  and  the  nitrate  works  were  said  to  enjoy  a  great  ad- 
vantage over  neighboring  establishments  situated  in  the 
midst  of  the  desert  and  far  from  any  natural  source  of  power. 
Our  host  took  us  to  his  gardens  in  the  Loa  valley  where  he 
had  a  lodge  which  he  frequented  on  Sundays  and  holidays — 
a  charming  embowered  spot  doubly  precious  by  reason  of  the 
waste  of  salt  and  sand  of  the  surrounding  desert. 


CHAPTER  III 
RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT 

The  coast  of  northern  Chile  is  quite  the  driest  of  which  there 
is  any  record  in  the  world.  For  a  21 -year  period  Iquique  has 
an  average  rainfall  of  1.5  mm.  (0.6  inch),  and  Arica  (for  a  19- 
year  period)  has  still  less,  0.6  mm.  But  an  average  in  the  desert 
is  as  nearly  useless  a  computation  as  even  the  desert  affords. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  normal  desert  rainfall.  Years  of 
absolute  drought  pass,  and  the  foreigner  who  comes  out  on  a 
three-year  or  five-year  contract  may  stay  his  time  and  depart 
without  having  known  a  drop  of  rain  to  fall ;  and  he  may  even 
assert  that  it  never  falls  and  speak  as  one  who  knows  because 
he  "has  lived  there."  The  British  Consul  at  Iquique  told  me 
that  he  had  advised  some  of  his  friends  who  were  coming  out 
from  England  not  to  bring  umbrellas,  for  in  the  fourteen  years 
that  he  had  then  known  the  coast  no  rain  had  fallen.  Yet  on 
the  night  on  which  they  disembarked  from  the  steamer  it  was 
raining  hard.  In  1906  there  was  a  three  days'  rain,  a  succession 
of  light  showers  with  intervals  of  heavy  mist,  which  pene- 
trated the  houses  and  collected  and  ran  off  walls  and  ceilings 
and  soaked  the  carpets  and  beds.  It  is  only  the  rare  downpour 
that  gives  Iquique  anything  at  all  to  average  through  the 
years.  It  is  as  nearly  like  a  rainless  land  as  any  that  we  know 
on  the  earth  today. 

Exceptional  Rains  and  Floods  in  the  Nitrate  Desert 

Yet  it  must  be  impressed  that  rains  actually  do  occur  at 
intervals  in  the  Desert  of  Atacama  and  that  some  of  them  are 
of  extraordinary  character.  The  reason  for  their  occurrence  is 
not  quite  clear.  In  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes  and  the  western 
foothills  periodic  summer  rains  fall  as  far  down  as  8000  or 
10,000  feet,  lower  still  in  some  places,  higher  up  in  others.  At 
long  intervals  the  usual  rains  may  be  supplemented  by  an 
extraordinarily  heavy  snowfall  or  an  equally  heavy  rainfall. 
The  sudden  precipitation  of  rain  in  unusual  quantities  is  a 

40 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT 


41 


<-  !/2  Meter-jj 

Tacna 

•     (19.68  in.)    ' 

Arica 

Iquique 

Ollague 

1 

Chuquicamata 

1 

Calama 

AnTofagasta 

Cachinal 

Refresco 

Taltal 

Caldera 

! 

Copiapo 

! 

Vallenar 

' 

Isia  Chanaral 

; 

Serena 

Coquimbo 

—        I 

Lengua  de  Vaca 

—        1 

Ovalle 

—        [ 

Ligua 
San  Felipe 
Quillota 

Valparaiso 

Iquique        i;" 


ivOllague 


Chuquicamata 
o  Calama  *■! 


>Antofagasta 


oCachinaN- 
o  Refresco  / 


Taltal 


jCaldera 
°  Copiapo 


r'> 


oVallenar> 
j 

|lsla  ChanaraU.' 

i  ' 

[Serena        • 

Coquimbo  '> 
pLengua  de  yaca- 
oQvalle.'' 


10  Ligua    > 

oSan*J^elipe 
>;^  oQuillQta    ) 
"^Valparaiso    \J0 


Fig.  14 — Diagram  (and  location 
of  Atacama  and  the  transition  zone 
de  agua  caida  en  Chile  1849-1915, 
Lluvias,  Publ.  No.  20,  Santiago,  191 


map)  to  illustrate  the  rainfall  of  the  Desert 
to  the  south.  (From  Recopilacion  de  sumas 
Inst.  Meteorol.  y  Geofisico  de  Chile,  Seccton 
7.) 


42  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

feature  of  practically  all  the  deserts  in  the  world.  In  northern 
Chile  the  rains  and  snows  produce  heavy  floods  that  extend 
far  out  over  the  nitrate  pampa  and  freshen  the  innumerable 
gullies  that  feed  the  main  streams  and  spread  vast  sheets  of 
mud  and  gravel  over  the  outer  piedmont.  They  are  said  to 
occur  once  or  twice  in  a  lifetime. ^^  Billinghurst  notes  nine- 
teenth century  floods  in  the  Pampa  del  Tamarugal  in  1819, 
1823,  1852,  1859,  1878,  and  1884.1^  Bollaert  comments  on 
those  of  1 819  and  1852.1-  Floods  also  occurred  here  in  1903  and 
191 1.  Probably  some  of  the  storms  are  quite  local  in  charac- 
ter, but  others  appear  to  be  associated  with  widespread  periods 
of  rain,  as  those  of  1819  and  191 1 .  The  latter  was  a  season  of 
extraordinary  character.  Fortunately  we  have  an  official  me- 
teorological record  of  it.^''  The  phenomena  recorded  are  so 
unusual  in  this  region  that  it  is  worth  while  to  reproduce  the 
report  in  some  detail. 

The  Rains  of  191  i 

On  February  15  and  16,  1911,  the  towns  of  Pozo  Almonte, 
Huara,  Pisagua,  and  others  of  the  province  of  Tarapaca  suf- 
fered a  great  inundation  following  days  of  furious  snowstorms 
in  the  cordillera.  Increase  in  the  river  at  Tacna  interrupted 
communication  between  that  town  and  Arica;  an  enormous 
lake  that  formed  between  Huara  and  Pozo  Almonte  suspended 
railroad  service  there;  the  work  of  the  salitreras  was  para- 
lyzed, numerous  workmen's  encampments  were  destroyed,  and 
likewise  a  large  quantity  of  nitrate.  In  some  parts  of  the 
pampa  it  rained  copiously  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  though 
elsewhere  not  a  drop  fell.  On  June  24  of  the  same  year  rain  fell 
at  Antofagasta  in  the  early  morning;  it  was  accompanied  with 
a  violent  thunderstorm  that  caused  great  alarm  among  the 
people,  so  rare  is  such  a  phenomenon  on  the  coast.      At  3  P.  M. 

i»F.  J.  San  Roman:  Desierto  i  Cordilleras  de  Atacama,  2  vols.,  Santiago,   1896; 
reference  in  Vol.  i,  pp.  190-191. 

11  G.  E.  Billinghurst:  Estudio  sobre  la  geografia  de  Tarapaca,  Santiago,  1886,  p.  36. 

12  William  Bollaert:  Antiquarian,  Ethnological  and  Other  Researches  in  New  Gra- 
nada, Equador,  Peru  and  Chile,  London,  i860,  p.  263. 

13  Anuario  Meteorologico  de  Chile  iQii ,  Inst.  Central  Meteorol.  y  Geofisico,  Santiago, 
1912. 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  43 

the  storm  subsided  although  rain  still  continued  to  fall.  In 
Calama  (altitude  7400  feet,  latitude  23°  S.)  the  streets  and 
houses  were  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  snow.  In  Iquique 
the  phenomenon  began  with  a  light  garua  (mist)  at  10  P.  M. 
followed  by  a  northeast  wind  that  attained  hurricane  velocity 
before  it  subsided  at  2  A.  m.  with  a  sudden  drop  of  tempera- 
ture. In  Tacna  on  the  night  of  the  23rd  a  hot  wind  from  the 
Cordillera  accompanied  with  rain  and  hail  blew  (with  an  inter- 
ruption at  2  A.  M.)  until  daybreak  and  was  repeated  on  the 
following  day.  Telegraphic  communication  between  Tacna 
and  Arica  was  interrupted,  and  many  trees  were  blown  down 
in  the  plantations  and  gardens.  A  few  days  previously 
weather  of  a  similar  description  had  been  encountered  on  the 
Peruvian  coast.  The  disturbance  was  felt  at  Copiapo,  Serena, 
and  Coquimbo,  so  that  altogether  it  extended  over  20°  of 
latitude,  being  propagated  from  north  to  south. 

The  same  year  heavy  snows  were  reported  even  from  the 
driest  zone  of  the  Cordillera.  In  the  mountains  above  San 
Pedro  de  Atacama  snow  was  10  feet  deep,  and  in  San  Pedro 
itself  (8000  feet)  snow  fell  from  July  22  to  July  26  and  again 
from  July  30  to  August  i,  the  snow  being  8-10  inches  deep,  a 
phenomenon  never  before  seen  in  the  town  nor  known  in  tradi- 
tion. People  came  from  afar  to  see  the  wonderful  spectacle; 
excursions  were  run  from  Antofagasta.  Naturally  the  storm 
was  accompanied  by  disaster  to  travelers  and  herdsmen  of  the 
Cordillera.  Two  hundred  head  of  cattle  were  lost,  and  several 
persons  including  a  number  of  chinchilla  hunters  perished. 
Previous  heavy  precipitation  had  occurred  in  January  and 
February  of  1885,  i.  e.  in  the  year  succeeding  notable  floods  in 
the  Pampa  del  Tamarugal.  In  those  months  were  40  days  of 
rain ;  rain  falling  every  day  from  i  to  7  P.  M. 

The  Southern  Margin  of  the  Desert 

Going  southward  through  the  Desert  of  Atacama  another 
climatic  province  is  entered  about  the  latitude  of  Copiapo. ^^ 

14  On  the  rainfall  regions  of  Chile  see  Mark  Jefferson:  The  Rainfall  of  Chile,  Atner. 
Geogr.  Soc.  Research  Series  No.  7,  New  York,  192 1. 


44 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


Table  I — Dates  of  Rainfall  and  Quantity  of  Water,  1888-1913 


13 


1892 

1893 
1894 


1895 
1896 
1897 


1901 


30  April 9.5 

8  August 6.5 

14  August 36.8 

20  October 14.  i 


{In  millimeters) 

Total  for 
Year 

1902 


2  April 0.3 

8  May 3.6 

17  August 0.6 


14  June 21.5 

3  July 12.0 


21  July 2.6 

28  August 5.2 


20  July 26. 1 

30  July 0.5 

12  August II  .2 


25  May 13.4 

19  June 31.6 


66.9 


4-5 


33-5 


7.8 
0.0 
0.0 


37.8 
0.0 
0.0 


23   May 10.4 

26  June 0.45 

27  June 9.05 


45-0 


3  July 20.7 

8  August 7.6 

II   August 0.7 

19  August 2.35 


1900       27  April 14 

18  July 23 

19  July I 

21  August 42 

29  August 4 

18  November. ...      i 


2  July 5.4 

2  August 2.8 


19.9 


31-35 


'•5 


1903 


1904 


1905 


1906 


1907 


Total  for 
Year 


28  June 3.8 

10  July 54.4 

28  July 0.8 


2  May 1.8 

2  June 0.2 

18  June 0.1 

27  July 12.0 


22  May I.I 

13  June 0.6 

27  June 3.3 

10  July 2.7 

16  July 20.6 

30  July 13 -2 

29  August 3.3 

20  October 4.2 


23  April 0.3 

24  April 0.2 

30  May 5.8 

14  July 18.2 

30  July 13.8 

18  August 13.0 


20  May 2.1 

3  June 3.8 


4  May 2.4 

21   May 2.8 


1908  29  June 2.0 

1909  8  May 4.4 

4  June 4.4 

16,  17  June 13.5 


1910 
1911 


1912 
1913 


13  May II  .4 

25  June 0.0 

31  July 2.0 


59-0 


14. 1 


49.0 


1888-1913  Average. 


51-3 


5-9 


5-2 
2.0 


22.3 
o  o 


134 

0.0 
0.0 

21  .7 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  45 

Rainfall  increases  in  frequency  and  amount.  The  average 
rainfall  of  Copiapo  may  be  given  as  about  20  mm.  The  average 
for  the  26  year  period  1888-1913  was  22  mm.^-^  I  copied  the 
records  of  the  Meteorological  Observatory  of  Copiapo  for  this 
period  and  give  them  in  Table  L 

East  of  the  Copiapo  valley  the  rainfall  increases  with  ele- 
vation on  the  western  flank  of  the  Andes.  Bordering  the  valley 
are  the  outer  ranges  of  the  cordillera,  which  in  summer  have 
heavier  rainfall  than  the  lower  desert  and  which  occasionally 
have  snow  in  the  winter  season.  The  effect  is  clearly  seen  in 
the  vegetation  and  belts  of  settlement.  The  desert  sands  and 
bare  rock  surfaces  or  pebble  pavements  (Figs.  4,  5,  and  15) 
give  way  to  grass-covered  tracts  where  the  mountain  streams 
debouch  (Fig.  16);  and  higher  up  are  the  pajonales  where 
bunch  grass  and  shrubs  and  a  thin  scattered  growth  of 
succulent  grasses  come  in  after  the  summer  rains  (Fig.  17). 
Each  important  stream  has  its  clump  of  huts,  and  the  largest 
streams  are  marked  by  villages  or  towns  no  matter  how  remote 
the  situation  may  be.  Each  pasture  tract  is  annually  invaded 
and  explored  by  the  migratory  shepherds  in  the  summer  season. 

In  addition,  there  is  a  heavy  belt  of  fog  which  during  most 
of  the  year  hangs  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Coast  Range 
and  even  extends  inland,  so  that  a  certain  amount  of  moisture 
is  collected  mechanically  from  the  fog  and  furnishes  additional 
moisture  for  lowly  desert  shrubs  and  grasses.  South  of 
Copiapo  the  rains  increase  in  number,  and  the  rainfall  in- 
creases in  amount  per  shower  as  well,  so  that  in  the  one  hun- 
dred miles  from  Copiapo  to  Vallenar  the  rainfall  has  increased 
to  80  mm.  a  year.  The  latter  place  has  at  least  twice  as  many 
showers  and  four  times  as  much  rain  as  the  former. 

Even  in  the  northern  section  of  this  transition  zone,  between 
Copiapo  and  Huasco,  it  is  unusual  to  find  two  successive  years 
absolutely  rainless,  although  there  may  be  a  period  of  six  or 
seven  years  with  very  little  rain ;  but  it  must  be  impressed  that 

15  As  already  indicated  widely  different  "averages"  will  be  obtained  for  desert  rain- 
falls according  to  the  observation  period.  The  official  figure  for  the  average  rainfall 
of  Copiapo  for  23  years  between  1870  and  1915  is  17.8  mm.  (Recopilacion  de  sumas 
de  agua  caida  en  Chile  1849-1915,  Inst.  Meteorol.  y  Geofisico  de  Chile,  Seccion  Lluvias, 
Publ.  No.  20,  Santiago,  191 7.) 


1 


46 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


^ 


■*''^^^' 


Fig.  15 


M^  AiL  4f  '^jlQ 


Fig,  16 


Fig.  17 

Fig.  15 — On  the  hot  sandy  trail  between  Socaire  and  San  Pedro  de  Atacama. 

Fig.  16 — Tambillo,  a  camp  site  on  the  grassy  border  of  the  Salar  de  Atacama 
near  San  Pedro  de  Atacama. 

Fig.  17 — El  Totoral,  the  name  given  to  the  belt  of  shrub  and  grass  on  the  long 
western  slope  of  the  main  chain  of  the  Andes  east  of  Socaire  and  Soncor.  The  crest 
of  the  main  chain,  here  formed  of  steep-sided  volcanoes,  appears  in  the  background. 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  47 

"much"  and  "little"  with  reference  to  rainfall  are  here  purely 
relative  terms. 

The  rainy  season  of  Copiapo  extends  from  May  to  August, 
with  occasional  rains  as  early  as  April  and  as  late  as  October; 
but  the  rain  is  limited  to  individual  showers:  the  average  num- 
ber of  rainy  days  a  year  in  the  period  1 888-1913  was  between 
three  and  four.  The  heaviest  individual  rainfalls  were  36.8 
mm.  (1.4  inches)  on  August  13  and  14,  1888;  54.4  mm.  (2.1 
inches)  on  July  10,  1902;  42  mm.  (1.6  inches)  on  August  21, 
1900.  Such  heavy  rainfalls  result  in  flood.  Floods,  too,  orig- 
inate in  the  still  heavier  storms  of  the  cordillera. 


Desert  Drainage  Types 

Floods  are  not  unknown  in  the  nitrate  region ,  as  we  noted  on 
an  earlier  page,  but  they  are  of  short  duration  and  quite  infre- 
quent even  though  the  greatest  of  them  are  known  to  have 
covered  vast  stretches  of  the  nitrate  pam^pa.  Such  floods  are  of 
unusual  occurrence  because  they  require  unusual  snowfall  in 
the  mountains  combined  with  very  rapid  melting,  and  these 
two  circumstances  are  rarely  brought  about  in  the  same  sea- 
son. South  of  the  nitrate  desert,  as  in  the  mountain  region  east 
of  Copiapo,  not  only  the  rains  but  the  snows  are  much  more 
frequent,  hence  also  the  chance  of  floods.  Here  the  combina- 
tion of  rain  and  melting  snow  may  greatly  augment  the  stream 
flow.  Whereas  only  about  one  cubic  meter  a  second  was  flow- 
ing in  the  natural  channel  of  the  Copiapo  River  when  I  saw  it 
in  July,  1913,  it  has  been  known  to  increase  to  100  cubic  me- 
ters a  second,  as  in  1888  when  1.4  inches  of  rain  fell  at  one 
time.  Added  to  this  we  have  a  very  interesting  physiographic 
condition  which  heightens  the  floods  and  increases  the  risks  of 
the  valley  dwellers  who  depend  upon  a  mountain  stream  to 
furnish  life  to  their  fields  and  gardens — the  great  convergence 
of  headwater  streams  in  the  mountains.  A  drainage  map  of 
almost  any  desert  region  shows  a  system  curiously  disorgan- 
ized and  without  plan  save  as  a  few  radial  lines  of  streams 
focus  upon  a  given  desert  basin  (Fig.  18).  At  intervals  one 
basin  may  be  found  draining  into  another,  and  at  still  rarer 


48 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


intervals  it  may  be  that  a  large  through-flowing  stream  may 
collect  the  drainage  of  a  string  of  basins  and  minor  valleys.  If 
the  rainfall  increases  in  amount  there  is  a  corresponding  in- 


FiG.  1 8 — Interior-basin  types  of  drainage  features  upon  the  high  and  cold  Puna 
de  Atacama  and  other  arid  or  semi-arid  plateau-and-mountain  regions  adjacent. 
Short  disconnected  drainage  systems  are  the  rule,  with  intermittent  streams  and 
salt-covered  basin  floors.     See  Fig.  i,  p.  lo,  for  the  general  geographical  setting. 


crease  of  stream  organization.  The  individual  basins  are  no 
longer  isolated  and  self-contained  but  receive  the  water  and 
waste  of  tributary  streams  upon  their  floors,  while  the  self- 
contained  basin  has  a  salt  lake  or  a  salt-incrusted  floor  with 
wide  marginal  flats.  In  the  season  of  rain  the  floors  of  the  con- 
nected basins  are  generally  drained  by  incised  streams  that 
are  rapidly  cutting  their  way  downward  in  the  general  process 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  49 

of  the  denudation  of  the  land.  The  Copiapo  region  is  marked 
by  the  latter  type  of  desert  valley  and  basin:  i.  e.  the  streams 
collect  the  run-off  over  a  great  extent  of  territory  and  by  con- 
verging it  in  one  main  valley  subject  the  people  now  to  great 
floods  and  again  to  long  periods  of  extreme  low  water  accord- 
ing as  there  are  floods  and  droughts  in  the  head-water  region. 
Were  a  still  greater  desert  drainage  to  be  gathered  together  the 
extremes  of  water  level  would  be  still  greater,  although  there 
is  at  least  one  corresponding  advantage — there  is  some  water 
In  all  years.  Salt  incrustations  are  not  infrequent  in  the 
Copiapo  valley,  but  they  are  only  a  few  inches  thick  at  most. 
Where  water  stagnates  and  evaporates  a  salt  deposit  gathers, 
and  this  renders  irrigation  the  more  difficult  in  certain  places. 
Thus  we  have  here  near  the  border  of  the  westerlies  a  type  of 
drainage  distinct  from  (i)  that  in  the  still  drier  north  where 
the  mountain  streams  terminate  on  the  land,  and  (2)  that  in 
the  wetter  south,  where  the  streams  always  reach  the  sea. 

Precipitation  in  Relation  to  Cultivation 

The  people  of  Copiapo  and  Vallenar  are  accustomed  to  see- 
ing black  clouds  in  the  sky  and  no  rain ,  a  white  blanket  of  snow 
in  the  Cordillera  and  none  upon  the  nearer  hills,  heavy  fogs  and 
some  rain  upon  the  coast  and  occasional  fogs  and  only  a  few 
light  showers  a  year  in  the  valley.  They  take  these  things  as  a 
matter  of  course,  but  to  one  who  is  studying  such  an  environ- 
ment in  the  field  or  to  the  newcomer  who  thinks  of  what  all 
that  distant  water  would  do  if  turned  out  upon  the  irrigable 
land  in  the  valley,  it  seems  an  extraordinary  handicap.  But  it 
is  not  where  rain  falls,  it  is  where  it  can  be  put  to  best  use,  that 
determines  the  site  of  a  desert  settlement.  Our  own  connec- 
tion with  rain  upon  the  cornfields  and  wheatfields  of  the  Mid- 
dle West  is  direct  and  immediate.  A  shower  in  one  township 
benefits  that  township  and  not  a  neighboring  one.  In  the  des- 
ert the  situation  is  quite  different.  Pastures  spring  up  in 
regions  of  rain  and  snow,  as  in  the  cordillera  and  in  the  coastal 
hills;  but  for  agriculture  there  is  required  irrigation,  and  this 
takes  not  merely  water  but  also  flat  land  upon  which  water  can 
be  diverted  from  irrigating  canals. 


50  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

One  further  observation  upon  water  supply  is  necessary  here 
to  understand  the  nature  of  the  climate  and  settlements  of  the 
Atacama  region.  Desert  oases  are  of  two  general  kinds:  (i) 
those  that  lie  on  heights  that  reach  into  the  zone  of  cloud  and 
rain  and  (2)  those  that  lie  in  hollows  or  valleys  that  have  river 
water  or  ground  water.  Raton  Mesa  in  New  Mexico  represents 
the  first  type ;  Copiapo  and  Vallenar  the  second — they  lie  deep 
down  in  the  ground.  So  extremely  dry  is  the  Desert  of  Ata- 
cama that  none  of  the  heights  in  it,  though  they  reach  several 
thousand  feet  above  the  general  level,  catch  a  significant  rain- 
fall. The  nearest  approach  to  the  high-island-like  oasis  of 
Raton  Mesa  is  to  be  found  along  the  coast  of  Chile,  as  at 
Paposo,  south  of  Antofagasta,  where  the  heavy  fog  supports  a 
little  herbage — the  counterpart  of  the  grassy  hills  of  wet 
weather  seasons  along  the  so-called  lomas  of  coastal  Peru. 

Effect  of  a  Single  Shower 

The  effect  of  a  single  shower  on  the  southern  margin  of  the 
Chilean  desert  (about  Coquimbo)  is  noted  by  Darwin: 

"...  The  farmers,  who  plant  corn  near  the  seacoast  where 
the  atmosphere  is  more  humid,  taking  advantage  of  this 
shower,  would  break  up  the  ground ;  after  a  second  they  would 
put  the  seed  in;  and  if  a  third  shower  should  fall,  they  would 
reap  a  good  harvest  in  the  spring.  It  was  interesting  to  watch 
the  effect  of  this  trifling  amount  of  moisture.  Twelve  hours 
afterwards  the  ground  appeared  as  dry  as  ever;  yet  after  an 
interval  of  ten  days,  all  the  hills  were  faintly  tinged  with  green 
patches;  the  grass  being  sparingly  scattered  in  hair-like  fibres 
a  full  inch  in  length.  Before  this  shower  every  part  of  the  sur- 
face was  bare  as  on  a  high  road."^*' 

Going  still  farther  northward  toward  the  Huasco  valley, 
Darwin  took  the  coast  road,  "which  was  considered  rather  less 
desert  than  the  other."  The  shower  which  he  mentions  above 
had  reached  (a  fortnight  before)  about  halfway  to  Huasco,  and 
so  far  as  it  extended  the  ground  was  covered  with  a  faint  tinge 

16  Charles  Darwin:  Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and  Geology 
of  the  Countries  Visited  during  the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  Beagle  round  the  World,  2nd 
edit.,  London,  i860,  p.  342. 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  51 

of  green.  Even  where  this  was  brightest,  "it  was  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  remind  one  of  the  fresh  turf  and  budding  flowers  of  the 
spring  of  other  countries."  At  Vallenar,  a  "green  valley"  bor- 
dered by  "naked  hills,"  he  learned  that  a  shower  had  not  fallen 
for  thirteen  months.  "The  inhabitants  heard  with  the  greatest 
envy  of  the  rain  at  Coquimbo;  from  the  appearance  of  the  sky 
they  had  hopes  of  equally  good  fortune,  which,  a  fortnight 
afterwards,  were  realized.  I  was  at  Copiapo  at  the  time;  and 
there  the  people,  with  equal  envy,  talked  of  the  abundant  rain 
at  Guasco.  After  two  or  three  very  dry  years,  perhaps  with 
not  more  than  one  shower  during  the  whole  time,  a  rainy  year 
generally  follows;  and  this  does  more  harm  than  even  the 
drought.  The  rivers  swell,  and  cover  with  gravel  and  sand  the 
narrow  strips  of  ground,  which  alone  are  fit  for  cultivation. 
The  floods  also  injure  the  irrigating  ditches.  Great  devasta- 
tion had  thus  been  caused  three  years  ago."^'' 

It  is  the  greater  frequency  of  rain  that  gives  the  hills  of  the 
Coast  Range  the  moisture  necessary  for  this  vegetation  (scant 
as  it  is)  as  we  go  southward  from  Antofagasta.  These  showers 
may  seem  of  small  consequence  to  us  who  live  in  a  happier 
climate,  but  they  are  of  immense  concern  to  those  who  live  on 
the  edge  of  the  habitable  lands  where  the  margin  of  safety  is 
small  or  vanishes  altogether. 

Fog  and  Cloud  on  the  Coast 

To  the  traveler  on  the  desert  coast  of  Chile  and  Peru  it  is  a 
source  of  constant  surprise  that  the  sky  is  so  often  overcast  and 
the  ports  hidden  by  fog,  while  on  every  hand  there  are  clear 
evidences  of  extreme  aridity.  The  big  desert  tracts  lie  east  of 
the  Coast  Range,  and  there,  except  for  slight  summer  cloudi- 
ness, cloudless  skies  are  the  rule.  The  desert  of  the  littoral  is  in 
many  parts  only  a  narrow  fringe  of  dry  marine  terraces  quite 
unlike  the  real  desert  beyond  in  type  of  weather  and  in  re- 
sources. The  fog  bank  overhanging  it  forms  over  the  Hum- 
boldt Current  and  the  upwelling  cold  water  between  the  cur- 
rent and  the  shore,  drifts  landward  with  the  onshore  wind, 

I'  Ibid.,  pp.  348-349. 


52  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  gathers  on  the  seaward  slopes  of  the  coastal  hills  as  the 
inflowing  air  ascends  them  in  its  journey  eastward  (see  Fig. 
19  for  illustration  of  the  general  principles  involved).  Some- 
times it  lies  as  fog  on  the  surface  of  the  land  and  the  water; 
more  frequently  it  is  cloud  that  hangs  some  distance  above 
them.   On  many  parts  of  the  coast  its  characteristic  position  is 


ZDNEOFCOASTALTERRACES  ZONE  OFSUBDUED  COASTALMOUNTAINS  -DESERT  ZONE 

DRY  UNDERNEATH  FOG  BANK  WET  SEAWARD  ASPECT        DRY  LANDWARD  ASPECT 


FOG-BANK  BETWEEN  2000  AND  40UH  ^LLT 


Fig.  19 — Topographic  and  climatic  cross  section  to  show  varying  positions 
(A,  B,  C)  of  the  cloud  bank  on  the  seaward  edge  of  the  desert  of  northern  Chile 
and  Peru. 

from  2000  to  4000  feet  above  sea  level,  descending  at  night 
nearly  or  quite  to  the  surface,  ascending  by  day  and  sometimes 
all  but  disappearing  except  as  rain  clouds  on  the  hills.  Accord- 
ing to  Mossman,!^  the  relative  humidity  on  the  coast  between 
latitude  i8°  and  30°  S.  rarely  falls  below  50  per  cent.  At 
Iquique  the  monthly  range  is  74-77  per  cent. 

In  Peru  the  coastal  fog  is  known  as  garua,  in  Chile  as  caman- 
chaca.  There  is  much  variation  from  place  to  place  in  its 
position  and  habits.  Lima,  in  latitude  12°  S.,  has  a  great  deal 
of  fog;  while  Trujillo,  in  latitude  10°  S.,  has  little  fog  and  a 
good  deal  of  sunshine  and  is  distinctly  warmer.  Fog  is  char- 
acteristic of  Antofagasta  during  the  winter  season;  by  con- 
trast it  is  largely  absent  at  Iquique.  Where  the  hills  of  the 
Coast  Range  are  high  or  there  is  a  convergence  of  slopes  to- 
ward a  central  point  the  fog  may  thicken  to  an  actual  drizzle 
and  determine  the  location  of  a  settlement.  Paposo,  as  we 
have  already  mentioned,  has  a  little  pasture  supported  chiefly 
by  the  coast  fog. 

Copiapo  lies  within  (east  of)  the  Coast  Range,  and,  though  its 
elevation  is  but  1300  feet  above  the  sea,  it  enjoys  a  certain 
protection.   On  the  coast  at  Caldera,  the  principal  port  of  the 

18  R.  C.  Mossman:  The  Climate  of  Chile,  Jouryi.  Scottish  Meteorol.  Soc.  Ser.  3, 
Vol.  15,  1910,  pp.  313-346;  reference  on  p.  320. 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  53 

valley  of  Copiapo,  the  fog  hangs  over  the  hills  and  the  bay  a 
good  part  of  the  time.  In  the  sketch,  Figure  19,  the  belt  of  fog 
is  shown  surmounting  the  coastal  hills  and  reaching  inland 
over  the  valley.  It  does  not  sweep  up  the  valley,  as  it  does  in 
the  small  draws  of  the  Coast  Range  that  slope  directly  down  to 
the  Pacific,  but  settles  down  from  aloft  as  night  comes  on, 
and  in  the  morning  the  whole  valley  may  be  filled  with  it. 
It  is  indeed  a  strange  experience  to  be  in  the  midst  of  desert 
country,  so  far  removed  from  the  sea  that  there  is  neither 
sight  nor  sound  of  it,  and  yet  awake  in  the  morning  to  find 
the  air  filled  with  a  clammy,  cold  fog.  It  does  not  long  survive 
the  morning  sun,  and  after  a  few  hours  of  daylight  the  edge 
of  it  may  be  seen  retreating  up  the  slopes  to  the  crests  of  the 
coastal  hills. 

Riding  northward  through  the  coastal  desert  toward  the 
Huasco  valley  Darwin  in  1835  observed  the  belt  of  fog  from 
elevated  points  along  the  trail  and  wrote:  "During  the  winter 
months,  both  in  northern  Chile  and  in  Peru,  a  uniform  bank 
of  clouds  hangs,  at  no  great  height,  over  the  Pacific.  From  the 
mountains  we  had  a  very  striking  view  of  this  white  and 
brilliant  aerial-field,  which  sent  arms  up  the  valleys,  leaving 
islands  and  promontories  in  the  same  manner,  as  the  sea  does 
in  the  Chonos  archipelago  and  in  Tierra  del  Fuego."^^ 

As  for  distribution  through  the  year  there  may  be  said  to 
be  a  cloudy  season  and  a  cloudless  season.  The  cloudless  sea- 
son comes  in  the  southern  summer  from  November  to  April, 
and  the  cloudy  season  in  the  southern  winter  from  May  to 
October.  So  far  as  the  coast  has  rain  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  fog  bank  that  hangs  over  its  margin,  it  is  a  winter 
rain,  more  characteristic  of  subtropical  than  tropical  lands. 
For  the  characteristic  summer  rains  of  the  tropics  one  must 
cross  the  foggy  coastal  belt,  continue  across  the  coastal  desert 
and  enter  the  Cordillera,  where  regular  summer  rains  prevail 
at  elevations  that  vary  from  4000  to  10,000  feet  according  to 
the  latitude.  Over  the  whole  Central  Andes  it  is  the  rule  that 
the  southern  summer  (December  to  February)  is  the  season 
of  rain,  the  winter  the  season  of  comparative  dryness. 

"  Darwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  348. 


54  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

When  the  fog  belt  hangs  high  over  the  hills  it  is  the  season 
of  dryness.  When  the  fog  belt  thickens  and  extends  from  sea 
level  to  the  summit  of  the  hills  rain  may  fall.  The  fog  bank 
is  thickest  from  June  to  September,  and  in  that  period  the 
sun  may  be  hidden  for  weeks  at  a  time  except  for  occasional 
glimpses  through  the  fog  or  at  sunset  when  it  peeps  from 
beneath  the  cloud  cover  before  disappearing  below  the  horizon. 

There  is  a  somewhat  sympathetic  relation  between  the  dry- 
ness of  a  place  and  the  duration  of  fog.  The  rainfall  of  the 
coast  of  southern  Peru  diminishes  southward  in  a  general  way, 
and  the  driest  part  of  the  coast  of  Chile  is  from  Arica  to  Cal- 
dera.  Thence  southward  there  is  a  slight  but  distinct  increase 
in  the  rainfall.  The  southern  end  of  the  desert  to  a  marked 
degree  has  rains  which  follow  upon  great  atmospheric  dis- 
turbances in  the  cordillera.  South  of  Coquimbo  this  is  par- 
ticularly the  case,  and  in  that  direction  the  fog  bank  on  the 
coast  diminishes  in  thickness,  being  of  consequence  only  in 
the  winter.  The  coast  is  here  hidden  by  mist  rather  than  the 
characteristic  and  pronounced  fog  of  more  northerly  situa- 
tions. From  southern  Peru  900  miles  southward  to  the  end  of 
the  Desert  of  Atacama  in  32°  S.  the  fog  bank  of  the  coast  has 
little  effect  upon  vegetation  in  spite  of  the  greater  height  of 
the  Coast  Range.  This  condition  of  coastal  dryness  corre- 
sponds with  the  extreme  aridity  of  the  desert  that  lies  between 
the  coast  ranges  and  the  cordillera  and  is  explained  not  by 
the  relations  of  coastal  scarp  to  cold  sea,  as  on  pages  51  and  52, 
but  rather  by  the  height  and  breadth  of  the  mountain  zone 
east  of  the  nitrate  desert  and  the  general  system  of  winds  and 
rains  that  affect  all  places  in  this  latitude.  It  must  not  be 
thought  that  this  terrestrial  wind  system  has  anything  more 
than  a  general  expression  at  any  given  point  on  the  earth's 
surface.  The  weather  from  day  to  day  is  the  effect  of  local 
causes  or  agencies — a  mountain,  a  regional  wind  from  this 
or  that  quarter,  a  fog  bank  or  the  absence  of  it,  a  cloud  belt. 
The  variations  in  these  things  affect  the  hourly  and  daily 
changes  of  weather  in  a  given  place,  but  their  range  in  turn  is 
determined  by  their  situation  with  respect  to  the  great  belts 
of  wind  and  rain  that  in  a  general  way  control  the  weather 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  55 

over  broad  tracts  of  land  and  sea.  While  we  have  a  cold 
current  along  the  entire  west  coast  of  South  America  as  far 
north  as  Ecuador,  and  while  the  interplay  between  the  cold 
current  and  the  warm  land  has  the  general  effect  of  causing 
a  cloud  bank  to  form  over  the  coast,  the  position  of  the  cloud 
bank,  its  density,  whether  or  not  it  produces  rain,  are  under  at 
least  the  partial  control  of  still  greater  forces  relating  to  the 
broad  outlines  of  the  cordillera  on  the  east  and  to  the  habits 
of  the  wind  and  rain  belts  in  the  terrestrial  system. 

Effects  on  Settlement  and  Economic  Life 
IN  THE  Coastal  Belt  of  Peru 

It  is  only  as  we  go  north  along  the  coastal  belt  of  Peru  that 
we  find  the  belt  of  cloud  and  of  slight  precipitation  on  the  sea- 
ward slopes  of  the  Coast  Range  to  have  any  influence  upon  set- 
tlement and  economic  life.  Even  there  the  fogs  and  rains 
support  too  thin  and  narrow  a  belt  of  grass  to  form  the  basis  of 
an  important  pastoral  industry.  For  that  the  rainfall  would 
have  to  be  more  regular  in  occurrence  and  distributed  over  a 
broader  belt  of  country.  Coming  irregularly  the  rains  furnish 
abundant  pasture  in  one  year  and  fail  altogether  the  next,  so 
that  the  pastures  dry  up  and  the  herds  must  be  driven  down 
into  the  valleys.  When  the  rains  come  their  effect  is  truly 
amazing  and  appears  the  more  striking  because  of  the  extreme 
aridity  of  the  country  to  eastward. 

By  good  fortune  I  traveled  through  a  part  of  the  coastal  belt 
of  Peru  during  a  period  of  rain  and  witnessed  the  delightful 
change  of  scene  on  passing  from  the  burning  desert  into  the 
belt  of  cloud.  I  repeat  here  the  description  of  that  experience 
already  published  in  "The  Andes  of  Southern  Peru." 2° 

During  the  winter  the  desert  traveler  finds  the  air  tempera- 
ture rising  to  uncomfortable  levels.  Vegetation  of  any  sort 
may  be  completely  lacking.  As  he  approaches  the  leeward 
slope  of  the  Coast  Range,  a  cloud   mantle  full  of  refreshing 

-0  Isaiah  Bowman:  The  Andes  of  Southern  Peru:  Geographical  Reconnaissance 
Along  the  Seventy-Third  Meridian,  Atner.  Geogr.  Soc.  Special  Publication  No.  2,  New 
York,  1916. 


56  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

promise  may  be  seen  just  peeping  over  the  crest  (Fig.  19). 
Long,  slender  cloud  filaments  project  eastward  over  the  mar- 
gin of  the  desert.  They  are  traveling  rapidly,  but  they  never 
advance  far  over  the  hot  wastes,  for  their  eastern  margins  are 
constantly  undergoing  evaporation.  At  times  the  top  of  the 
cloud  bank  rises  well  above  the  crest  of  the  Coast  Range,  and 
it  seems  to  the  man  from  the  temperate  zone  as  if  a  great 
thunderstorm  were  rising  in  the  west.  But  for  all  their  menace 
of  wind  and  rain  the  clouds  never  get  beyond  the  desert  out- 
posts. In  the  summer  season  the  aspect  changes,  the  heavy 
yellow  sky  of  the  desert  displaces  the  murk  of  the  coastal 
mountains  and  the  bordering  sea. 

An  early  morning  start  in  October  enabled  me  to  witness  the 
whole  series  of  changes  between  the  clear  night  and  the  murky 
day  and  to  pass  in  twelve  hours  from  the  dry  desert  belt 
through  the  wet  belt  and  emerge  again  into  the  sunlit  terraces 
at  the  western  foot  of  the  Coast  Range.  Two  hours  before  day- 
light a  fog  descended  from  the  hills,  and  the  going  seemed  to  be 
curiously  heavy  for  the  beasts.  At  daybreak  my  astonishment 
was  great  to  find  that  it  was  due  to  the  distinctly  moist  sand. 
We  were  still  in  the  desert.  There  was  not  a  sign  of  bush  or  a 
blade  of  grass.  Still,  the  surface  layer,  from  a  half  inch  to  an 
inch  thick,  was  really  wet.  The  fog  that  overhung  the  trail 
lifted  just  before  sunrise  and  at  the  first  touch  of  the  sun 
melted  away  as  swiftly  as  it  had  come.  With  it  went  the  sur- 
face moisture,  and  an  hour  after  sunrise  the  dust  was  once 
more  rising  in  clouds  around  us. 

We  had  no  more  than  broken  camp  that  morning  when  a 
merchant  with  a  pack  train  passed  us  and  shouted  above  the 
bells  of  the  leading  animals  that  we  ought  to  hurry  or  we 
should  get  caught  in  the  rain  at  the  pass.  My  guide,  who,  like 
many  of  his  kind,  had  never  before  been  over  the  route  he  pre- 
tended to  know,  asked  him  in  heaven's  name  what  drink  in  dis- 
tant Camana  whence  he  had  come  produced  such  astonishing 
effects  as  to  make  a  man  talk  about  rain  in  a  parched  desert. 
We  all  fell  to  laughing,  and  at  our  banter  the  stranger  stopped 
his  pack  train  and  earnestly  urged  us  to  hurry,  for,  he  said,  the 
rains  beyond  the  pass  were  exceptionally  heavy  this  year.  We 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  57 

rode  on  In  a  doubtful  state  of  mind.  I  had  heard  about  the 
rains,  but  I  could  not  believe  that  they  fell  in  real  showers! 

About  noon  the  cloud  bank  darkened  and  overhung  the 
border  of  the  desert.  Still  the  sky  above  us  was  clear.  Then 
happened  what  I  can  yet  scarcely  believe.  We  rode  into  the 
head  of  a  tiny  valley  that  had  cut  right  across  the  coast  chain. 
A  wisp  of  cloud,  an  outlier  of  the  main  bank,  lay  directly  ahead 
of  us.  There  were  grass  and  bushes  not  a  half-mile  below  the 
bare  dry  spot  on  which  we  stood.  We  were  riding  down  toward 
them  when  of  a  sudden  the  wind  freshened  and  the  cloud  wisp 
enveloped  us,  shutting  out  the  view,  and  ten  minutes  later  the 
moisture  had  gathered  in  little  beads  on  the  manes  of  our 
beasts  and  the  trail  became  slippery.  In  a  half-hour  it  was 
raining,  and  in  an  hour  we  were  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy  down- 
pour. We  stopped  and  pastured  our  famished  beasts  in  luxuri- 
ant clover.  While  they  gorged  themselves  a  herd  of  cattle 
drifted  along,  and  a  startled  band  of  burros  that  suddenly  con- 
fronted our  beasts  scampered  out  of  sight  in  the  heavy  mist. 
Later  we  passed  a  herdsman's  hut,  and  long  before  we  reached 
him  he  shouted  to  us  to  alter  our  course,  for  just  ahead  the  old 
trail  was  wet  and  treacherous  at  this  time  of  year.  The  warn- 
ing came  too  late.  Several  of  our  beasts  lost  their  footing  and 
half  rolled,  half  slid,  down  hill.  One  turned  completely  over, 
pack  and  all,  and  lay  in  the  soft  mud  calmly  taking  advantage 
of  the  delay  to  pluck  a  few  additional  mouthfuls  of  grass.  We 
were  glad  to  reach  firmer  ground  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley. 

The  heavy  showers  and  luxuriant  pastures  of  the  wet  years 
and  the  light  local  rains  of  the  dry  years  endow  the  Coast 
Range  with  many  peculiar  geographic  qualities.  The  heavy 
rains  provide  the  desert  people  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains 
such  a  wealth  of  pasture  for  their  burdensome  stock  as  many 
oasis  dwellers  possess  only  in  their  dreams.  From  near  and  far 
cattle  are  driven  to  the  wet  hill  meadows.  Some  are  even 
brought  in  from  distant  valleys  by  sea,  yet  only  a  very  small 
part  of  the  rich  pastures  can  be  used.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  they 
could  comfortably  support  ten  times  the  number  of  cattle, 
mules,  and  burros  that  actually  graze  upon  them.  The  grass 
would  be  cut  for  export  if  the  weather  were  not  so  continually 


58  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

wet  and  if  there  were  not  so  great  a  mixture  of  weeds,  flowers, 
and  shrubs. 

Then  come  the  dry  years.  The  surplus  stock  is  sold,  and 
what  remains  is  always  maintained  at  great  expense.  In  1907 
I  saw  stock  grazing  in  a  small  patch  of  dried  vegetation  back  of 
Mollendo,  although  they  had  to  be  driven  several  miles  to 
water.  They  looked  as  if  they  were  surviving  with  the  greatest 
difficulty,  and  their  restless  search  for  pasture  was  like  the 
search  of  a  desperate  hunter  of  game.  In  June,  191 1 ,  the  same 
tract  was  devoid  of  grass,  and,  except  for  the  contour-like 
trails  that  completely  covered  the  hills,  no  one  would  even 
guess  that  this  had  formerly  been  a  cattle  range.  The  same 
year,  but  five  months  later,  a  carpet  of  grass,  bathed  in  heavy 
mist,  covered  the  soil ;  a  trickle  of  water  had  collected  in  pools 
on  the  valley  floor;  several  happy  families  from  the  town  had 
laid  out  a  prosperous-looking  garden ;  there  were  romping  chil- 
dren who  showed  me  where  to  pick  up  the  trail  to  the  port;  on 
every  hand  was  life  and  activity  because  the  rains  had  re- 
turned, bringing  plenty  in  their  train.  I  asked  a  native  how 
often  he  was  prosperous.  "Segun  el  temporal  y  la  Providencia" 
(according  to  the  weather  and  to  Providence),  he  replied,  as  he 
pointed  significantly  to  the  pretty  green  hills  crowned  with 
gray  mist. 

Transportation  rates  are  still  most  intimately  related  to  the 
rains.  My  guide  had  two  prices — a  high  price  if  I  proposed  to 
enter  a  town  at  night  and  thus  require  him  to  buy  expensive 
forage;  a  low  price  if  I  camped  in  the  hills  and  reached  the 
town  In  time  for  him  to  return  to  the  hills  with  his  animals. 
Inquiry  showed  that  this  was  the  regular  custom.  I  also 
learned  that  in  packing  goods  from  one  part  of  the  coast  to  an- 
other forage  must  be  carried  in  dry  years  or  the  beasts  required 
to  do  without.  In  wet  years  by  a  very  slight  detour  the  packer 
has  his  beasts  in  good  pasture  that  is  free  for  all.  The  merchant 
who  dispatches  the  goods  may  find  his  charges  nearly  doubled 
in  extremely  dry  years.  Goods  are  more  expensive,  and  there 
is  a  decreased  consumption.  The  effects  of  the  rains  are  thus 
transmitted  from  one  to  another,  until  at  last  nearly  all  the 
members  of  a  community  are  bearing  a  share  of  the  burdens 


RAINFALL  OF  THE  DESERT  59 

imposed  by  drought.  As  always,  there  are  a  few  who  prosper 
in  spite  of  the  ill  wind.  If  the  pastures  fail,  live  stock  must  be 
sold,  and  the  dealers  ship  south  to  the  nitrate  ports  or  north  to 
the  large  coast  towns  of  Peru,  where  there  is  always  a  demand. 
Their  business  is  most  active  when  it  is  dry  or  rather  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  dry  period.  Also,  if  transport  by  land  routes 
becomes  too  expensive,  the  small  traders  turn  to  the  sea 
routes,  and  the  carriers  have  an  increased  business.  But  so  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  learn  dry  years  favor  only  a  few  scat- 
tered individuals. 

A  Primitive  Fisher  Folk  of  Chile 

Among  native  inhabitants  the  Changos  are  the  only  ones 
that  seem  to  have  had  a  regular  dependence  upon  the  re- 
sources of  the  coast  in  the  belt  of  mist  on  the  coast  of  Chile. 
They  are  a  wretched  tribe  of  Indians,  primitive  fisher  folk  of 
the  desert  coast,  that  early  attracted  the  notice  of  Spanish 
writers.  Lozano  Machuca  stated  in  1581  that  there  were  400 
Uros  or  Changos  Indians,  fishers  and  heathen,  in  the  Bay  of 
Atacama  (Cobija).  They  are  particularly  interesting  because 
fishing  folk  are  extremely  rare  among  Andean  populations. ^^ 
They  depended  largely  upon  the  sea  for  a  living  and  in  their 
dependence  upon  it  resembled  the  primitive  fisher  tribes  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego.  Like  the  latter,  they  were  necessarily  no- 
madic, with  canoes  of  sealskin  and  household  goods  limited  to 
fishing  gear,  a  few  shells,  and  an  indispensable  water  bottle 
formed  usually  of  the  stomach  of  the  catfish.  One  of  their  chief 
settlements  was  Paposo,  situated  where  the  configuration  of 
the  coast  appears  to  lead  to  an  unusual  amount  of  fog  and  like- 
wise of  vegetation.  During  the  winter,  when  the  sea  is  rough 
and  the  heavier  cloud  on  the  Coast  Range  produces  more 
abundant  vegetation,  they  were  temporarily  diverted  from 
their  maritime  pursuits  and  hunted  the  guanaco  that  comes 
down  from  the  cordillera.  Since  the  Spanish  conquest  they 
have  also  acquired  small  flocks  of  goats  and  a  few  cattle  that 
are  pastured  on  the  seaward  slopes  of  the  Coast  Range. 

21  Formerly  the  Uros  of  the  Titicaca  basin  represented  a  pure  type  of  fishing  popu- 
lation. They  still  fish  and  hunt  in  the  reed  swamps  about  the  border  of  Titicaca  and 
those  of  the  upper  Desaguadero  north  and  northwest  of  Ancoaqui. 


CHAPTER  IV 
POPULATION  GROUPS  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 

Deserts  are  no  more  alike  than  mountains  or  plains.  In 
some  there  is  a  marked  degree  of  rainfall,  say  ten  or  twelve 
inches  a  year,  in  others  less  than  one  inch  a  year;  and  of  course 
there  is  a  corresponding  difference  in  the  amount  of  vegetation. 
It  was  of  an  area  near  Tocopilla  that  the  naturalist  Ball  wrote, 
'T  found  what  I  had  often  heard  of,  but  in  whose  existence  I 
had  almost  ceased  to  believe — a  land  absolutely  without  a 
trace  of  vegetable  life."  - 

While  Philippi  found  the  seaward  slopes  about  Paposo  at 
elevations  of  500-1800  feet  enriched  with  vegetation  during 
nine  months  of  the  year,  in  the  interior  he  passed  two  vegeta- 
tionless  stretches  of  10  or  25  leagues  respectively.-^  I  have 
already  spoken  of  the  vegetationless  character  of  the  country 
eastward  of  Central  Lagunas.  Similarly  riding  to  Quillagua 
southward  of  Central  Lagunas  in  June,  1907,  not  a  single 
spear  of  grass,  not  a  single  shrub  or  tree,  not  even  a  cactus 
did  I  see  over  a  distance  of  40  miles.  The  trail  passed  over 
sand  and  gravel,  in  and  out  of  dry  ravine  beds,  over  thick  salt 
deposits  with  rough  buckled  surfaces,  and  occasionally  over 
a  ledge  of  rock  or  a  flow  of  lava.  Nowhere  was  there  any 
vegetation  in  sight.  It  was  a  thoroughly  naked  land.  But 
these  are  exceptional  conditions.  As  a  rule  at  least  a  little 
vegetation  is  to  be  found  along  seepage  lines  in  the  ravines 
or  desert  hollows,  where  slow-moving  ground  water  makes  its 
exit.  The  plants  of  the  desert  are  scattered  in  clumps  and 
lines  here  and  there  in  sympathy  with  the  ground  water  or 
the  surface  drainage,  and  sometimes  there  are  wide  stretches 
of  bush-covered  country  that  depend  upon  natural  subirriga- 
tion  of  the  soil,  as  in  the  Coquimbo  valley  at  the  southern  end 
of  the  Desert  of  Atacama,  and  in  the  Pampa  del  Tamarugal 

22  John  Ball:  Notes  of  a  Naturalist  in  South  America,  London,  1887,  pp.  128-129. 

23  R.  Philippi:  Observaciones  jenerales  sobre  la  flora  del  desierto  de  Atacama,  Anales 
Univ.  de  Chile,  Vol.  14,  1857,  Santiago,  pp.  352-357;  reference  on  p.  354. 

60 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  6i 

east  of  Iquique.  Yet  where  these  stands  of  bush  occur  it  is 
just  as  much  a  desert  as  the  nitrate  pampa,  where  there  may 
be  no  vegetation  at  all. 

Definition  of  the  Desert 

Those  who  have  studied  the  Sahara  and  also  the  deserts 
of  our  Southwest  have  always  remarked  the  relative  abun- 
dance of  vegetation  in  our  deserts.  A  desert  has  become  by 
definition  not  naked  sand  or  rock  but  a  place  of  small  rainfall 
with  a  sparse  and  specialized  plant  and  animal  life.  The 
point  is  worth  making  here,  because  upon  a  number  of  maps 
published  before  i860  the  term  "The  Great  American  Desert" 
was  written  over  the  western  part  of  the  Great  Plains  of  the 
United  States,  over  plains,  valleys,  and  basins  alike,  where 
later  exploration  and  settlement  have  shown  a  dependable 
water  supply,  a  large  acreage  of  irrigable  land  in  the  aggre- 
gate, and  even  local  forests.-^  Because  such  settlement 
and  exploration  has  steadily  pushed  back  the  borders  of 
the  American  desert,  it  is  sometimes  supposed  that  the  word 
"desert"  can  be  discarded  entirely  and  that  we  can  look  upon 
the  whole  of  our  vast  public  domain  in  the  West  as  land  that 
will  some  day  be  made  habitable.  Only  those  who  mix  pa- 
triotism and  rainfall  can  envisage  so  rosy  an  outcome.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  have  an  extensive  area,  as  truly  desert  as 
the  Sahara  or  Atacama — thin  or  meager  vegetation,  highly 
adapted  in  its  resistance  to  drought  through  the  narrowness 
and  hardness  of  its  leaf  surfaces  and  its  resinous  protective 
epidermis,  scattered  settlements,  extensive  tracts  without 
vegetation  or  human  settlements,  strong  contrasts  between 
day  and  night  temperatures,  excessively  high  midday  tem- 
peratures, and  a  rainfall  of  but  a  few  inches  a  year.-^ 

Except  for  those  places  where  mountain  streams  flow  out 
upon  the  piedmont  border  there  is  no  vegetation  to  speak  of 
in  the  Desert  of  Atacama  between  the  basin  floors  at  two 

2«  Compare  Floyd  C.  Shoemaker:  Traditions  Concerning  the  Missouri  Question, 
Missouri  Hist.  Rev.,  Jan.,  1922,  pp.  252-262. 

"  Compare  "Routes  to  Desert  Watering  Places,"  etc.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  Water- 
Supply  Papers  4Q0-A,  4Q0-B,  400-C,  and  4Q0-D,  Washington,  D.  C,  1920-22. 


62  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

thousand  to  four  thousand  feet  and  the  mountain  flanks  at 
eight  thousand  feet  where  the  mountain  pastures  begin.  It  is 
substantially  a  barren  region.  While,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
are  tracts  of  scrub  which  depend  upon  natural  sublrrigatlon 
and  occasional  scattered  patches  of  bushes  and  thorny  plants 
along  the  ravines,  the  nakedness  of  the  desert,  its  exceedingly 
thin  plant  cover.  Is  the  outstanding  feature.  And  so  barren  is 
the  desert  pampa  outside  the  borders  of  the  oases  that  even  a 
pastoral  occupation  is  denied  the  inhabitants.  If  they  raise 
flocks  they  must  forage  on  the  cultivated  plants  of  the  garden 
farms — alfalfa,  millet,  and  the  like — or  be  driven  to  the  moun- 
tain pastures  at  elevations  above  eight  and  ten  thousand  feet. 
In  some  parts  of  the  desert,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  country 
between  Copiapo  and  Vallenar,  at  the  southern  end  of  Ata- 
cama,  occasional  showers  make  possible  a  temporary  range 
for  flocks  and  herds,  when  grasses  spring  up  and  carpet  the 
otherwise  barren  surface  with  green,  but  the  dryness  of  the 
Desert  of  Tarapaca  Is  so  great  that  not  even  this  temporary 
range  comes  into  being.  Beyond  the  oases  there  is  nothing 
upon  which  man  can  depend,  and  access  to  the  exceedingly- 
thin  mountain  pastures  Is  denied  over  much  of  the  year  by 
the  extreme  scarcity  of  springs  and  streams  to  which  shep- 
herds can  drive  their  flocks  to  drink.  Otherwise  there  is  noth- 
ing except  in  some  underdeveloped  oasis  where  poorly  watered 
marginal  tracts,  rarely  more  than  a  few  square  miles  in  extent, 
often  salt-Incrusted,  support  a  wild  growth  of  temporary 
grasses  and  perennial  shrubs  which  for  a  short  time  bear  a 
certain  amount  of  succulent  foliage. 

Desert  of  Tarapaca 

The  Desert  of  Tarapaca  contains  rich  nitrate  deposits  that 
have  been  worked  for  half  a  century  and  upon  which  is  based 
the  prosperity  of  the  city  of  Iquique  and  several  neighboring 
ports  engaged  in  the  nitrate  business.  Before  the  discovery 
of  nitrate  it  was  an  almost  uninhabited  region.  Towns,  rail- 
ways, and  nitrate  works  have  been  made  out-of-hand.  They 
were   built  almost  entirely   by  foreign   capital   and   run   by 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  63 

foreign  enterprise  until  recent  years,  when  Chilean  capital 
has  been  invested  in  the  business  in  increasing  amounts. 
The  nitrate  deposits  are  found  along  the  line  of  a  great  de- 
pression, the  continuation  northward  of  the  well-known 
"longitudinal  valley"  of  Chile.  The  Coast  Range  rises  ab- 
ruptly several  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  between  its 
moderate  eastern  slopes  and  the  great  western  wall  of  the 
Andes  is  a  depression  with  no  outlet  to  the  sea.  The  extreme 
smallness  and  infrequency  of  the  rainfall  have  already  been 
discussed.  As  we  have  said,  more  than  a  decade  may  pass 
without  a  single  shower.  Up  in  the  mountains,  however,  the 
snow  falls  every  winter,  sometimes  in  local  storms,  sometimes 
over  a  vast  area  and  reaching  down  to  eleven  and  twelve  thou- 
sand feet  on  the  western  mountain  flanks.  There  are  also 
rather  frequent  summer  showers  above  eight  and  ten  thousand 
feet.  From  these  two  sources  the  mountain  streams  derive 
their  water  supply  and  come  down  through  steep-walled  can- 
yons to  the  great,  broad-spreading  alluvial  plain  at  the  western 
foot  of  the  mountains.  The  streams  have  lost  volume  in  their 
descent  over  the  waste-strewn  floors  of  the  canyons  and  by 
evaporation,  so  that  they  reach  the  border  of  the  piedmont 
as  trickling  brooks  rather  than  powerful  mountain  torrents. 
Whatever  of  land  waste  they  have  carried  along  with  them  to 
the  mountain  border  is  here  deposited,  so  that  there  is  a  steady 
building-up  on  the  outer  or  western  fringe  of  the  piedmont 
from  year  to  year. 

When  there  are  unusually  heavy  mountain  snows  and  rains 
the  streams  reach  the  border  of  the  desert  in  greater  volume 
and  spread  their  mantle  of  waste  over  many  square  miles  of 
the  desert,  and  in  rare  years  of  extraordinary  rain  and  snow 
the  streams  may  come  down  in  such  volume  as  to  flow  out 
over  the  nitrate  pampa,  as  they  did  in  1906  when  they  flooded 
the  pampa  as  far  as  the  railroad  line  near  the  western  border. 
Were  these  rare  floods  more  frequent  in  occurrence,  lakes 
would  be  formed  and  there  would  be  outlets  to  the  sea  and  the 
nitrate  would  be  dissolved  and  washed  away.  It  Is  the  very 
great  dryness  of  the  climate  and  the  infrequency  of  the  floods 
that  make  it  possible  for  the  nitrate  to  remain. 


64  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Situation  of  the  Oases 

Places  established  where  they  could  be  reached  only  by 
exceptional  floods  would  be  without  water  for  years  at  a  time 
unless  wells  were  dug  to  reach  it  or  tunnels  driven  to  ground 
water  into  the  piedmont,  such  as  we  have  described  at  Pica 
(p.  20).  A  settlement  formed  near  the  head  of  a  mountain 
torrent,  where  the  stream  flows  in  full  volume  and  so  vigor- 
ously as  continually  to  rework  the  materials  of  its  valley  floor, 
would  likewise  have  a  precarious  existence  as  at  Algarrobal 
(p.  68).  Between  these  two  extremes,  however,  it  is  possible 
to  establish  fields  and  irrigating  canals  and  to  enjoy  a  reason- 
ably dependent  supply  of  water.  Precisely  where  a  town 
will  be  located  depends  upon  routes  and  trails  to  other  towns 
and  to  the  coast,  so  that  there  is  some  variation  in  the  posi- 
tion of  settlements  along  the  western  foot  of  the  Andes.  They 
are  all  alike,  however,  in  that  each  depends  upon  a  mountain 
stream  that  has  a  steadily  diminishing  volume  westward, 
toward  the  desert.  Each  failing  stream — Aroma,  Huaschina, 
Tarapaca,  Mamina,  Ouisma,  Chacarilla,  Huatacondo,  Mani, 
and  others — is  the  locus  of  a  village  or  a  line  of  villages.  Each 
stream  is  deeply  incised  below  the  level  of  a  broad  piedmont 
slope.  This  is  not  merely  a  local  condition.  It  extends  along 
the  western  border  of  the  Andes  for  five  hundred  miles,  from 
Copiapo  in  the  south  to  Pisagua  in  the  north. 

Of  all  desert  places  in  South  America,  the  villages  and  settle- 
ments along  the  Andean  foot  in  Tarapaca  and  southward  to 
the  end  of  the  desert  have  their  fortunes  most  intimately  de- 
termined by  the  local  seasons.  So  far  as  their  daily  life  is  con- 
cerned, the  coast  might  as  well  be  a  thousand  as  a  hundred 
miles  away.  There  are  exceptions,  to  be  sure,  as  where  a 
mine  or  a  source  of  water  supply  affects  a  remote  mountain 
settlement,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  a  singularly  self-contained 
series  of  communities.  Before  the  development  of  nitrate 
only  naked  desert  confronted  them  westwards.  It  discouraged 
occupation  and  movement  in  that  direction.  They  looked  to 
the  mountains  for  their  trade  relations  and  for  a  part  of  their 
subsistence,  not  to  the  sea.    It  is  of  far  more  importance  to 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  65 

them  that  the  winter  snows,  whose  amount  they  mark  with 
great  concern,  should  be  unfailing  than  that  the  vessels  of 
distant  ports  and  countries  should  ride  at  anchor  off  their 
repelling  shores.  Before  the  nitrate  business  was  established 
the  isolation  of  these  towns  was  almost  complete,  and  con- 
nection with  the  sea  about  as  remote  and  unimportant  as  if 
they  were  in  Central  Asia  or  the  heart  of  Australia. 

Separated  by  wide  stretches  of  barren  rock  and  sand,  these 
oases  are  almost  like  oceanic  islands  in  the  degree  of  isolation 
they  possess.  No  historic  movement  of  any  consequence  was 
ever  originated  in  them.  Their  chief  importance  has  been  their 
service  to  land  travelers,  who  have  used  them  as  links  in  the 
chain  of  communication  from  central  Chile  to  southern  Peru 
and  from  the  mountainous  hinterland  to  the  coast.  Without 
the  water  supply  which  they  had  made  known  and  developed, 
the  Inca  Empire  could  scarcely  have  been  extended  to  Co- 
plapo  and  beyond.  The  oases  furnished  food,  water,  and 
guides  to  the  Inca  armies  and  were  used  as  bases  of  operations 
in  the  progressive  conquest  of  more  southerly  lands.  Spanish 
conquest  and  occupation  proved  them  similarly  valuable. 

Limitations  of  Trade  and  Development 

When  one  conquers  the  waste  spaces  of  the  sea  he  has, 
within  certain  rather  wide  limits,  his  choice  of  lands  to  touch 
and  products  to  secure;  but  here  similar  climate  and  similar 
conditions  of  soil  and  water  supply  are  reflected  in  a  lament- 
able uniformity  of  agricultural  products.  This  means  that 
there  Is  no  Important  trade  from  settlement  to  settlement, 
such  as  would  develop  if  there  were  a  specialization  of  prod- 
ucts. Moreover,  no  one  desert  settlement  has  an  exceptionally 
large  water  supply  and  by  reason  of  this  an  advantage  that 
would  tend  to  make  it  a  central  point  for  the  commerce  of  a 
wide  region.  Naturally  also  the  surplus  of  one  valley  In  a  for- 
tunate year  cannot  be  sold  to  advantage  if  it  consists  of  perish- 
able fruit  or  bulky  forage.  The  neighboring  valleys  are  equally 
poor,  and  their  capacity  to  absorb  outside  products  is  very 
small.    It  follows  that  the  prices  for  staple  commodities  vary 


66 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


greatly  from  place  to  place.  In  May,  1907,  we  found  free 
pasture  at  the  uninhabited  grassy  camp  known  as  Caya, 
a  tributary  of  the  Chacarilla  gorge;  at  the  oasis  of  Chacarilla, 
a  half-day's  journey  west,  forage  was  free  if  the  natural  growth 


Fig.  20 — Algarrobo  tree  near  Calama.  It  produces  a  pod 
with  seeds;  and  these  are  valuable  for  fodder,  especially  in  the 
dry  years. 


was  desired;  a  few  shillings  a  quintal,  if  it  consisted  of  barley 
from  a  cultivated  terrace;  while  at  Pica,  30  miles  northwest, 
it  was  8  pesos,  or  $2  gold,  a  quintal.  Where  there  is  none  to 
spare,  sometimes  money  cannot  buy  forage  even  of  the  worst 
kind ;  where  there  is  plenty,  it  is  very  cheap ;  where  there  is  a 
surplus,  it  is  given  away;  and  where  there  are  no  inhabitants, 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 


67 


it  belongs  to  the  first  comer.  It  is  the  ratio  of  supply  to  de- 
mand at  a  given  restricted  and  isolated  locality  that  deter- 
mines the  price,  not  the  ratio  of  the  aggregate  supply  to  the  de- 
mand of  the  whole  geographic  province.    In  short,  there  are  no 


Fig.  21 — Chanar  tree  at  Calania.    It  is  from  this  tree  that  a 
fruit  is  produced  which  is  illustrated  in  Figure  22. 

railroads  and  only  the  most  primitive  means  of  carriage  for 
freight  and  passengers;  and  no  specialized  production  or  ade- 
quate equalization  of  surplus  products  of  any  kind.  Further- 
more, these  primitive  means  of  communication  are  expensive. 
In  general,  one  must  either  grow  one's  own  produce  or  live 
very  expensively.  Only  a  rich  mine  or  a  thriving  business 
enables  one  to  live  permanently  upon  the  market  and  not 


68  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

have  one's  own  vine  and  fig  tree.  To  the  costly  and  hazardous 
transportation  and  the  fact  that  each  man  Hves  for  the  pro- 
duction of  his  own  food  there  is  to  be  added  the  necessity  of 
overcoming  the  inertia  of  the  native.  He  has  no  ideals  of  the 
sort  we  know  and  live  for.  Wealth  to  him  is  the  possession  of 
comfort  of  a  sort  we  should  regard  as  miserable.  Drink, 
gaudy  attire,  and  long  leisure  to  enjoy  them,  are  in  a  way 
objects  of  veneration  to  the  majority  of  the  Indian  inhabit- 
ants; and,  in  a  large  measure,  it  is  true  that  only  for  them  and 
the  sterner  necessities  born  of  the  meager  years  will  be  pro- 
duced, even  for  pay,  what  another  man  is  to  consume. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  said  in  general  that  the  commerce  of 
these  towns  is  decidedly  feeble,  is  carried  on  under  great 
difhculties,  and  tends  toward  no  natural  self-initiated  im- 
provement. The  interchange  of  products  is  only  important 
under  fortuitous  or  local  conditions,  as  when  clay  deposits 
occur  at  one  locality  and  not  at  another  and  so  lead  to  the 
production  of  pottery;  or  where  the  culture  of  the  grape  is 
happily  joined  in  one  place  to  a  good  water  supply,  and  the 
production  of  exceptionally  good  wine  thus  becomes  a  tra- 
dition. At  present  there  is  also  a  certain  activity  due  to  the 
opening  up  of  mines  in  the  mountains.  The  surplus  products 
of  the  oasis  of  Chacarilla  were  formerly  disposed  of  at  the 
mines  of  Victoria,  a  few  miles  away,  while  some  fruit  and 
dried  meats  are  taken  from  Pica  and  Matilla  to  the  mines  at 
Huatacondo  in  the  deep  gorge  of  Huatacondo  and  to  Colla- 
huasiinthehighAndes.a  week'sjourneyaway  over  a  steep  trail. 

The  precarious  situation  of  most  of  the  towns  is  one  of  their 
striking  characteristics.  The  least  accident  may  betray  them. 
This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  history  of  a  line  of  settlements 
in  the  Chacarilla  valley.  It  was  at  one  time  a  fertile  and 
frequently  visited  district.  But  early  in  the  seventies,  as 
nearly  as  we  could  determine,  a  great  flood  came  down  the 
gorge,  broke  down  the  irrigating  ditches,  cut  up  the  terraces, 
or  deposited  infertile  sand,  gravel,  and  even  boulders  upon 
them,  overwhelmed  orchards,  and  so  generally  devastated  the 
farms  and  discouraged  the  inhabitants  that  all  but  a  remnant 
of  them  moved  away.    The  shock  which  such  an  occurrence 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 


69 


gives  to  a  self-contained  oasis  is  always  terrific  and  sometimes 
fatal.  I  saw  the  irrigation  works  at  the  site  of  the  now  deserted 
village  of  Algarrobal.  Here  and  there  a  neglected  orchard 
tree  or  pepper  bush,  struggling  along  as  best  it  can  without 
irrigation,  or  the  crumbling  mud  walls  of  some  abandoned 
home  are  a  mournful  testimony  to  the  ruin  wrought  by  the 
flood  in  this  once  happy  valley.    The  fragment  of  people  now 


Fig.  22 — The  chafiar  seed,  or  nut,  in  natural  size. 
The  outer  covering  is  tough  and  hard  but  somewhat  flexi- 
ble. The  white  inner  substance  while  dry  and  hard  can 
be  cut  with  a  knife.  Ground  up,  it  is  used  as  an  in- 
gredient for  soup  and  to  make  so-called  chanar  bread 
(compare  Fig.  21). 


living  within  sight  of  the  former  more  populous  valley  occupies 
a  safer  position.  The  tiny  oasis  of  Chacarilla  is  perched  high 
above  reach  of  flood  upon  the  slopes  of  a  terraced  alluvial 
fan,  whose  outer  edge  is  protected  by  a  stone  wall.  The  small 
spring-fed  stream  discharging  across  the  fan  is  led  out  upon 
the  gardens  and  orchards  by  half  a  hundred  diverting  canals. 
Apart  from  the  vicissitudes  due  to  such  sweeping  disasters 
the  amount  of  land  that  can  be  put  under  cultivation  varies 
much  from  year  to  year.  In  times  of  serious  drought  lands 
ordinarily  habitable  have  to  be  entirely  abandoned  for  the 


70  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

time  being.  In  the  Quebrada  de  Mani,  for  example,  the  pro- 
prietors emigrate  in  dry  years  to  return  after  a  flood  has  re- 
stored the  amazing  fertihty  of  the  valley.  According  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  flood  is  the  length  of  time  for  which  their 
cultivation  can  be  continued. ^^^  Attempts  to  increase  cultiva- 
tion have  been  made,  but  they  have  met  with  little  success. 
Experiments  conducted  in  the  Pampa  del  Tamarugal  have  an 
interest  scientific  rather  than  economic.  In  the  Pampa  del 
Tamarugal  there  are  places  where  the  ground  water  is  abun- 
dant and  comparatively  free  from  salts.  In  such  spots  wells 
have  been  sunk  and  small  patches  irrigated.  Tirana  is  an  ex- 
ample noted  by  Bollaert.  Its  unusual  advantages  gave  it  an 
early  importance.  It  has  served  as  a  midway  station  between 
the  oficinas  and  the  oasis  of  Pica  for  Bolivian  emigrants  seek- 
ing employment  in  the  salitreras.  In  1850  another  agricultural 
experiment  was  tried;  the  idea,  it  is  said,  being  derived  from 
the  growth  of  corn  from  grain  accidentally  spilled  by  a  mule- 
teer in  a  hollow  of  the  pampa.  A  depression  is  made  in  the 
ground  so  that  the  surface  is  brought  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
the  ground-water  level.  This  chacra  sin  riego  is  similar  to  the 
hoyas  of  the  coast  valleys  of  Peru  described  by  Garcilasso  de  la 
Vega." 

Persistent  Characteristics  of  the  Oasis  Towns 

The  future  of  the  piedmont  and  mountain  valley  towns  is 
safely  predictable.  The  small  area  of  irrigable  land,  even  with 
the  maximum  conservation  of  water  supply,  means  definitely 
restricted  groups  of  population  widely  separated  from  each 
other  and  as  stagnant  and  self-dependent  as  isolated.  Their 
limited  development  and  the  wide  unproductive  spaces  to  be 
overcome  will  always  mean  the  absence  of  any  improved 
means  of  communication,  and  no  assistance  can  be  expected 
in  this  direction.  Railroads  will  never  connect  these  towns 
except  as  they  lie  by  chance  upon  the  line  of  some  future  route 

26  Roch  Latrille:  Notice  sur  le  territoire  compris  entre  Pisagua  et  Antofagasta,  Bull. 
Soc.  de  Geogr.  de  Paris,  Ser.  7,  Vol.  18,  1897,  pp.  473-495;  reference  on  p.  491. 

2'  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega:  Royal  Commentaries  of  the  Yncas,  Bk.  5,  Ch.  3,  Hakluyt 
Soc.  Pubis.,  1st  Series,  Vol.  45,  London,  1871. 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  71 

between  mine  and  seaport.  Pica  is  the  largest  town  along  the 
mountain  front,  and  a  branch  line  but  14  miles  long  would 
put  it  in  touch  with  the  port  of  Iquique  via  the  Lagunas- 
Iquique  nitrate  railroad.  Yet  that  short  line  has  not  been 
built  and  probably  will  never  be  built.  Only  exceptionally 
rich  ores  can  make  possible  the  costly  transportation  by  carts 
and  mule  packs  to  the  coast.  The  latter  means  are  not  found 
generally  successful  today  with  competing  mines  more  favor- 
ably located  with  respect  to  railroads.  The  mines  back  of 
Taltal,  for  a  long  time  exporting  their  ores  by  cart  to  the  sea- 
board, had  to  be  abandoned  when  the  mountain  railroad  from 
Antofagasta  to  Oruro  was  completed.  Before  any  railroads 
had  been  built,  or  at  least  only  a  few  completed,  competition 
between  pack  train  and  railroad  could  be  sustained ;  but  with 
the  active  extension  of  the  railroads  in  South  America  only 
those  mines  that  are  on  or  near  a  railroad  can  survive.  The 
remote,  isolated,  self-dependent,  desert  village  is  therefore  a 
permanent  feature.  The  traveler  of  a  century  hence  will  still 
find  certain  groups  unaffected,  in  the  main,  by  the  industrial 
development  of  the  mines  and  the  nitrate  deposits  of  the 
desert  of  Tarapaca.  The  bells  in  the  churches  of  Caspana, 
San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  and  Chiuchiu  bear  dates  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries  and  have  served  a  line  of 
people  whose  life  has  come  down  from  earlier  centuries  almost 
as  unchanged  as  the  peals  of  the  bells  that  have  ushered  out 
the  successive  generations.-^ 

In  spite  of  the  disagreeable  odors  and  filthy  sights  one  sees 
about  these  desert  towns,  one's  first  and  last  impression  of 
them  is  enduringly  pleasant.  From  the  desert  trail,  long,  hot, 
and  deep  in  dust,  their  inviting  gardens  are  seen  many  leagues 
away,  and  at  night  a  tower  light  on  a  commanding  hilltop 
guides  the  traveler  to  their  hospitable  gates.  Rows  of  re- 
freshing orchard  trees,  neat  squares  of  vegetable  gardens, 
and  a  life-giving  stream  with  clustering  houses — that  is  the 
picture.    In  the  twilight  of  morning  and  evening  the  strong 

28  Alejandro  Bertrand:  Memoria  sobre  la  esploracion  a  las  Cordilleras  del  Desierto 
de  Atacama,  Anuario  Hidrogr.  de  la  Marina  de  Chile,  Vol.  lo,  1885,  pp.  1-299;  reference 
on  pp.  288-289. 


72  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

contrast  of  yellow  plain  and  deep  green  foliage  is  most  marked 
and  lends  to  the  view,  in  that  otherwise  cheerless  land,  an 
indescribable  charm.  There  is  a  universal  appeal  in  this  aspect 
of  home  and  a  certain  comfort  and  beauty  amid  the  inhospit- 
able surroundings  of  naked  desert. 

Each  town  has  its  patron  saint,  appropriate  to  the  specialty 
for  which  the  town  is  known  or  the  condition  amid  which  It 
exists.  Thus  at  Pica,  where  excellent  wine  is  produced,  It  is 
San  Andres,  the  patron  saint  of  wine ;  at  Canchones,  a  seat  of 
chacra  sin  riego,  It  Is  San  Isldro,  the  patron  saint  of  farmers. 
Frequently  the  saint  of  one  village  is  taken  on  a  trip  to  a 
neighboring  village.  Thus,  at  the  time  of  our  visit  to  Pica, 
the  Virgin  of  Candelaria  was  brought  from  Macaya,  a  copper- 
producing  town  of  600  inhabitants  60  miles  northeast  of  Pica. 
She  came  asking  for  alms,  for  it  had  proved  a  hard  year  at 
Macaya,  and  an  appeal  was  thus  made  to  the  generosity  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Pica.  Their  patron  saint  was  carried  out 
to  meet  the  visiting  saint,  and  with  fife  and  drum  the  united 
procession  returned  to  the  village,  parading  the  streets  to  the 
church  of  San  Andres. 

Throughout  many  portions  of  this  thinly  populated,  arid 
region  of  South  America  there  is  the  most  curiously  interest- 
ing mixture  of  primitive  and  Christian  worship.  The  old  rites 
of  the  Indians  are  grafted  upon  a  new  creed,  often  with  but 
a  change  In  name  and  not  In  principle  or  symbol  of  worship. 
The  rivers  and  the  harvests  are  the  forms  In  which  they  under- 
stand the  Deity.  The  spirit  of  the  old  prayers  for  abundant 
rivers  and  rich  harvests  breathes  through  the  new  devotions, 
and  the  melancholy  chants  of  the  ancient  Ouechua  or  Aymara 
tribes  or  of  the  folk  about  the  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama 
often  follow  upon  a  fiesta  in  which  the  rites  of  the  Christian 
religion  are  but  new  forms  for  an  old  and  simple  speech. 

Relation  to  the  Nitrate  Settlements 

The  oases  people  are  deeply  rooted  In  the  sites  that  they 
have  chosen  for  settlement.  Aloof  from  the  sea,  with  no  herb- 
age afield,  they  have  become  sedentary  to  a  high  degree.  Each 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  73 

settlement  is  a  self-centered  unit;  and  formerly  this  quality 
was  even  more  evident  than  now,  when  industrial  develop- 
ment has  stirred  some  of  the  desert  settlements  out  of  their 
age-old  lethargy.  Unchanging  as  the  fundamentals  of  desert 
economy  must  be,  in  general,  there  are  certain  modifications 
due  to  industrial  development.  Thus  the  influence  of  the 
large  city  of  Iquique,  which  must  subsist  entirely  upon  im- 
ported foodstuffs,  is  spread  over  a  large  radius.  Pica  and 
Matilla  supply  a  part  of  the  fruit  and  vegetables  consumed 
at  the  port  and  through  the  exchange  have  acquired  a  taste 
for  the  products  of  the  town.  Laborers  are  in  high  demand 
through  the  nitrate  region,  and  the  population  of  the  oases, 
crowded  from  the  standpoint  of  water  supply  and  food  re- 
sources, are  often  drawn  upon  for  the  services  of  the  nitrate 
establishment,  though  the  most  important  supply  comes 
from  the  more  densely  populated  south. 

Farther  south  an  important  group  of  oases  of  which  San 
Pedro  de  Atacama  is  the  center  enters  into  wider  geographical 
relations  with  the  nitrate  districts.  It  lies  at  a  much  higher 
elevation  in  a  distinct  border  zone  partaking  of  the  life  of 
both  mountain  and  desert.  It  will  be  described  later  (Ch. 
XII)  after  the  account  of  the  trans-cordilleran  cattle  trade 
upon  which  it  is  primarily  dependent. 

The  Development  of  the  Nitrate  Desert 

In  extreme  contrast  to  the  old  self-suflicient  communities 
of  the  piedmont  oases  are  the  new  groupings  dependent  on 
the  exploitation  of  mineral  wealth.  The  first  coast  settlement 
between  Arica  and  Copiapo  to  attain  any  importance  was 
the  little  Changos  settlement  of  Cobija  (latitude  22°  30'  S.) 
established  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  as  a  customs  house 
for  suppression  of  active  contraband  trade  in  silver  from  the 
Bolivian  mines. 

Following  the  Wars  of  Liberation  the  first  notable  new 
development  on  the  coast  of  Atacama  was  the  resurrection 
of  the  port  in  1829.  The  first  step  undertaken  was  careful 
organization  of  the  water  supply.    The  best  well  close  to  the 


74 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


?'--,.! 


^  <u 


o 

in    aJ 

<L1    "O 


-3^ 


>.  -o 


JS      S        0) 


J2 

C 


o    ^ 


o 

a 


-^    ^    7^ 


H 


.  U 


OJ     ^ 


0)    .c    aj 


o    nj 


a  ii 


^    ^ 

u,  '-B, 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  75 

shore  was  reserved  for  the  government  officials  and  garrison. 
The  rest  of  the  populace  was  supplied  with  water  from  springs 
in  the  hills  back  of  the  town,  conducted  in  pipes  and  kept  un- 
der lock  and  key,  the  daily  quota  being  delivered  to  each  fam- 
ily. More  water  might  be  purchased  from  a  carrier  who 
brought  it  from  the  interior.  In  those  days  the  present  of  a  bar- 
rel of  sweet  water  from  southern  Chile  or  Peru  was  highly  es- 
teemed.-^ Small  herds  of  sheep  and  goats  were  pastured  on  the 
mist-fed  hill  pastures,  otherwise  all  produce  came  from  out- 
side: cattle  from  Argentina  via  Calama,  foodstuffs  by  the  sea 
highway.  Gilliss  describes  the  market  as  he  saw  it  in  1851 
when  Cobija  was  credited  with  a  population  of  1500:  "  It  was  a 
matter  of  no  little  interest  to  witness  the  avidity  of  the  popula- 
tion on  landing  the  garden-stuff  brought  from  Arica.  Probably 
within  ten  minutes  after  the  first  boat-load  of  bags  had  been 
landed,  all  over  town  Indians,  including  soldiers,  might  have 
been  seen  stripping  the  rind  from  green  sugar-cane  .  .  . 
housekeepers  bearing  away  piles  of  ears  of  maize,  sweet  pota- 
toes ...  an  hour  later  the  beach — which  had  served  as  the 
impromptu  market-place — was  again  bare."^°  Cobija  served 
principally  for  the  mines  of  southern  Bolivia;  but  it  was  very 
incommodious  as  a  port,  and  with  the  development  of  the 
desert  and  the  establishment  of  Antofagasta  in  1870  Cobija 
rapidly  declined.  According  to  the  census  of  1885  it  had  only 
429  inhabitants,  and  that  of  1907  gives  no  more  than  35. 

In  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  began  the 
great  development  of  the  provinces  of  Antofagasta  and 
Tarapaca.  Great  aridity  has  here  conserved  vast  resources  of 
guano  and  nitrate  of  sodium  (Chile  saltpeter). ^^  Used  locally 
as  fertilizers  from  time  immemorial  their  value  to  the  Euro- 
pean agriculturist  became  recognized  less  than  a  century  ago.^^ 

2s  Three  Years  in  the  Pacific,  1 831-1834,  by  an  Officer  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
2  vols.,  London,  1835;  reference  in  Vol.  i,  p.  302. 

3"  The  U.  S.  Naval  Astronomical  Expedition  to  the  Southern  Hemisphere  During 
the  Years  i849-'50-'5i-'52.  Washington,  D.  C,  1855;  reference  in  Vol.  i,  p.  447. 

31  For  a  summary  of  the  problem  of  the  nitrate  and  its  origin  see  A.  G.  Ogilvie: 
Geography  of  the  Central  Andes,  Map  of  Hispanic  America  Puhl.  No.  i,  American 
Geographical  Society,  New  York,  1922. 

3- William  Bollaert:  Antiquarian,  Ethnological  and  Other  Researches  in  New 
Granada,  Equador,  Peru  and  Chile,  London,  i860,  p.  244. 


76  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

In  1820  a  cargo  of  nitrate  was  shipped  to  England,  but  the 
duty  on  It  was  high  and  it  was  thrown  overboard.  Other 
attempts  also  proved  unsuccessful  until  1831,  when  It  found  an 
English  market  and  steady  progress  in  exportation  ensued. 
The  first  production  centered  round  La  Noria,  where  was 
built  the  first  nitrate  railway,  a  section  of  which  was  com- 
pleted in  1870. 

For  a  time,  however,  nitrate  yielded  first  place  to  guano. 
This  product  first  appeared  in  the  list  of  important  Peruvian 
exports  In  1840.  It  rapidly  brought  the  government  an  en- 
viable source  of  revenue,  and  it  was  a  main  factor  contributing 
to  railroad  construction  in  Peru.^^  From  1840  to  1867  the  in- 
come from  guano  amounted  to  $20,000,000,  after  which  year 
decline  set  In  with  declining  prices  for  the  product.  The  chief 
source  of  guano  was  the  Chlncha  and  Lobos  Islands,  but  some 
deposits  were  worked  in  Atacama,  at  Pabellon  de  Pica,  for 
instance,  where  in  1874  new  deposits  were  discovered  along 
with  those  of  other  neighboring  localities — Chlpana  and 
Huanlllos.  But  at  this  time  nitrate  began  to  come  to  the 
fore. 

The  processes  of  extraction  and  refinement  of  the  crude 
product,  the  caliche,  and  shipment  from  the  salars,  twenty  to 
forty  or  more  miles  distant  from  the  coast,  involved  problems 
of  labor  and  human  economy  unknown  In  the  simple  exporta- 
tion of  guano  from  the  coast  cliffs  and  islands.  For  the  main- 
tenance of  the  people  employed  the  locality,  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  the  oficlnas,  produces  nothing:  water,  food, 
houses — everything  must  be  brought  from  a  distance,  and 
also  means  of  transport  for  the  distribution  of  such  supplies. 

Provisioning  the  Nitrate  Settlement 

First  comes  the  question  of  water.  Very  few  springs  and 
wells  exist  on  the  coast  or  pampa;  and  such  as  are  found, 
especially  on  the  pampa,  are  too  saline  for  use.  Water  was  first 
carried  on  mule  back  from  the  nearest  source  of  supply.  Then, 
as   the    nitrate    Industry   expanded,  distillation  works  were 

33  On  the  guano  industry  see  R.  C.  Murphy:  The  Sea  Coast  and  Islands  of  Peru, 
Brooklyn  Museum  Quart.,  1920-1922,  and  authorities  cited  therein. 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 


77 


Fig.  25 


Fig.  26 

Fig.  25 — A  part  of  the  water  system  of  Taltal.     See  Fig.  23,  p.  74. 
Fig.  26 — Hauling  water  by  mule  cart  from  railway  to  mines  near  the  southern 
end  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama. 


78  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

erected  on  the  shore  or  pipe  lines  were  laid  to  the  sources  in  the 
cordilleran  piedmont.  Thus  Iquique  first  got  its  water  from 
the  Pozo  Almonte  wells  to  the  east  and  from  Pisagua,  45  miles 
to  the  north.  After  the  Peruvo-Chilean  war  the  distillation 
plants  were  supplemented  by  water  piped  from  Pica  (compare 
p.  20),  56  miles  away.  Agitation  for  an  improved  supply  led 
to  a  contract  made  in  1913  for  the  construction  of  reservoirs  in 
the  lower  part  of  Quebrada  Ouisma.^^ 

The  nearest  local  sources  of  food  and  fodder  are  the  already 
described  desert  oases,  but  their  resources  are  strictly  limited 
in  amount.  In  1855  it  was  said  that  the  oases  did  not  produce 
enough  alfalfa  to  support  one-tenth  of  the  mules  engaged  in 
transportation  at  the  salitreras.  Moreover,  the  new  roads  to 
the  west  have  not  entirely  diverted  the  oasis  trade  from  its  old 
routes  east.  The  mines  of  the  cordilleran  slopes  take  some  of 
the  oasis  products;  Matilla,  for  example,  sends  fruits  to  Hua- 
tacondo  up  the  Chara  valley. 

For  fodder  and  fresh  provisions  the  nitrate  zone  looks 
chiefly  to  the  valleys  of  through-flowing  streams  north  of 
Arica  and  south  of  Copiapo.  Formerly  shipments  from  here 
were  made  only  by  water.  The  decks  of  the  coast  steamers 
(Fig.  28)  resembled  market  gardens.  The  merchant  proceeded 
on  board  at  Valparaiso  or  Coquimbo  with  his  stock  of  onions, 
squashes,  cabbage,  lettuce,  asparagus,  which  he  retailed  at  the 
desert  ports  as  far  north  as  Iquique  or  until  his  stock  was  ex- 
hausted. For  the  return  trip  he  might  lay  in  another  stock 
at  Arica  to  vend  on  the  way  south.  The  longitudinal  railroad 
has,  however,  added  a  new  means  of  transportation.  The  area 
tributary  to  the  nitrate  zone  extends  into  central  and  southern 
Chile  and  into  Argentina.  On  the  rise  of  the  industry  the 
stream  of  cattle  and  mules  coming  over  the  Cordillera  to 
the  mines  of  Atacama  was  in  part  deflected  northward.  For 
a  time  indeed  the  copper-producing  district  of  Copiapo  ex- 
perienced a  shortage.  The  northward  movement  progressed 
steadily,  though  today  it  appears  to  have  reached  the  turning 
point  in  respect  of  the  mule  traffic;  the  network  of  the  nitrate 
railways  is  now  fairly  complete,  and  the  introduction  of  the 

3*  Fernando  Lopez  Loayza:  La  Provincia  de  Tarapaca,  1912-1913,  Iquique,  1913- 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 


79 


Fig.  27 


^,J:  ^i_  liiSi 


Fig.  27 — Sail  car  on  the  x^ntofagasta-Bolivia  Railway  near  Calama,  Chile. 
The  regular  afternoon  wind  is  a  dependable  source  of  power  for  the  return  to  town 
at  the  end  of  the  day. 

Fig.  28 — Deck  of  the  French  freighter  Ville  du  Havre,  Lamport  and  Holt  Line, 
showing  vegetables  in  transit  from  the  Huasco  valley  to  the  nitrate  ports. 


8o  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

motor  truck  has  already  begun.  Cattle  and  fodder  also  come 
from  southern  and  central  Chile.  Before  the  end  of  the  last 
century  the  influence  of  the  nitrate  zone  had  effected  a  change 
in  the  Chilean  pastoral  industry  that  is  usually  significant  of 
the  transition  from  meat  production  to  dairying.  The  wheat 
lands  of  the  Central  Valley  were  plowed  up  and  converted  into 
cattle  pastures  and  hay  and  barley  fields  to  meet  the  increased 
demands  of  the  north  for  meat  and  fodder. 


Iquique  and  Antofagasta 

The  highway  of  the  sea  has  called  into  existence  the  princi- 
pal settlements  of  the  nitrate  zone,  the  ports.  The  older  ports 
are  those  of  Tarapaca  where  the  salitreras  were  first  exploited. 
Iquique,  the  nearest  point  of  shipment  for  the  first  nitrate 
works,  was  in  1826  a  fishing  hamlet  of  about  a  hundred 
persons. ^5  Thirty  years  later  it  was  estimated  to  contain  5000 
inhabitants  and  was  the  second  port  of  Peru.  Later,  when 
Iquique  came  into  the  hands  of  Chile,  it  figured  as  the  first 
port  in  the  export  trade  of  the  country  and  has  ranked  as  chief 
port  and  town  of  the  nitrate  district  until  lately,  when  Anto- 
fagasta has  come  to  the  fore.  In  1899  Iquique's  revenues  from 
import  and  export  trade  amounted  to  over  seven  times  as 
much  as  those  of  Antofagasta;  in  1912  they  were  practically 
identical;  and  in  191 5  revenues  from  nitrate  alone  were  half  as 
great  again  for  Antofagasta  as  for  Iquique.  In  sympathy  with 
this  development  are  the  population  changes  effected  in  the 
two  localities.  Iquique  had  over  40,000  people  in  1907;  re- 
duced to  37,421  in  1920.  In  1907  Antofagasta  had  32,496; 
increased  to  51,531  in  1920. 

The  growth  of  Antofagasta  has  been  extremely  rapid.  Just 
before  1870  nitrate  exploitation  was  begun  in  the  Salar  del 
Carmen  east  of  a  point  on  the  coast  known  as  Playa  Blanca.^^ 
Along  the  flat-bottomed  quebrada  leading  to  this  point  the 
nitrate  was  carried  by  oxcart,  and  thither  also  mules  brought 

35  Bollaert,  op.  cil.,  pp.  254-255. 

36  P.  O.  Sanchez:  Fundacion  de  Antofagasta,  Bol.  Inspeccion  de  Geografia  y  Minas, 
Santiago,  1913. 


POPULATION  OF  THE  NITRATE  DESERT  8i 

the  silver  ores  from  the  Caracoles  mines  on  the  way  to  San 
Pedro  de  Atacama  (see  p.  172).  To  the  port  thus  established 
was  given  the  name  La  Chimba,  soon  afterwards  changed  to 
Antofagasta.  Early  growth  was  largely  due  to  Chilean  enter- 
prise, so  much  so  indeed  that  Bolivia  recognized  the  right  of 
the  Chileans  to  exercise  the  privileges  of  the  electorate  and 
to  hold  office  in  municipal  affairs.  The  future  of  the  port 
was  early  determined  by  the  construction  of  the  railway  laid 
from  this  point  because  of  the  easy  gradient  and  low  altitude 
(about  1800  feet)  by  which  the  Coast  Range  could  here  be 
crossed.  By  1877  the  line  had  reached  Salinas,  and  it  was 
projected  to  the  plateau.  But  the  nitrate  war  intervened, 
and  construction  to  Oruro  was  not  completed  until  1892. 
Once  this  had  been  established  Antofagasta  entered  a  far 
broader  sphere  than  Iquique.  Iquique  is  a  nitrate  port  pure 
and  simple.  Antofagasta  ships  tin  and  silver  for  the  mines  of 
southern  Bolivia  and  borax  for  Ascotan  as  well  as  nitrate. 
Development  of  the  nitrate  zone  south  of  the  Loa  is  a  com- 
paratively late  enterprise;  sudden  expansion  began  there  in 
1900. 

The  port  of  Antofagasta  is  now  being  supplemented  by 
Mejillones.  Antofagasta  has  a  very  poor  natural  harbor. 
Vessels  must  anchor  in  the  open  roadstead  and  discharge  by 
lighter  to  the  eight  small  moles.  Congestion  is  not  infrequent, 
and  exposure  to  the  heavy  southwest  gales  may  entail  further 
annoying  delay.  Mejillones,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  splendid 
harbor  protected  by  high  hills  from  the  westerly  gales.  Now 
that  the  railroad  has  been  carried  there,  Mejillones  is  begin- 
ning to  grow.  In  1905  it  numbered  not  more  than  a  score  of 
persons;  now  there  are  6000. 

Besides  the  problems  connected  with  food  and  transporta- 
tion the  nitrate  oficinas  must  also  face  the  question  of  labor 
supply.  Labor  comes  chiefly  from  the  south  and  is  notably 
migratory.  The  oficinas  provide  an  outlet  for  the  people  of  the 
irrigated  valleys  during  times  of  drought.  Dry  years  are 
now  invariably  followed  by  a  wave  of  migration  to  the  north. 

Conditions  in  the  nitrate  market  exercise  a  reciprocal  effect 
on  labor.     No  better  illustration  of  this  can  be  found  than  in 


82  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

the  crisis  that  arose  at  the  beginning  of  the  war."  According 
to  the  estimates  of  the  Commission  appointed  to  relieve  the 
situation,  there  were  in  Tarapaca  over  113,000  people  practi- 
cally all  deriving  their  support  directly  from  the  nitrate  in- 
dustry. The  nitrate  oficinas  accounted  for  53,154,  taking  only 
the  laborers  and  the  women  and  children  dependent  on  them. 
The  pampa  towns,  sorne  of  which  are  absolutely  dependent  on 
the  industry  and  were  at  once  depopulated,  contained  about 
20,000.  The  ports  added  45,000  for  Iquique  and  5000  for 
Caleta  Buena,  Junin,  and  Pisagua.  By  the  beginning  of 
September,  191 4,  half  the  oficinas  had  been  closed  down, 
and  their  laborers  thrown  out  of  employment.  Towards  the 
end  of  October  the  Government  had  assisted  22,046  to  depart 
by  the  port  of  Iquique  and  676  from  Pisagua.  By  191 7  con- 
ditions were  restored  to  normal. 

3'  Commerce  Re  pis.,  Sept.  25,  Nov.  10,  Dec.  9,  1914.  The  mid-century  population  of 
Tarapaca  is  given  thus:  on  the  coasts  engaged  in  fishing  and  commerce,  3000;  on  the 
salitreras,  2000;  in  the  oases,  4000  (Francisco  Puelma:  Apuntes  jeologicos  i  jeograficos 
sobre  la  provincia  de  Tarapaca  en  el  Peru,  Anales  Univ.  de  Chile,  1855,  Santiago).  For 
purposes  of  comparison  it  is  interesting  to  add  the  population  figures  according  to 
the  last  four  censuses,  1885,  1895,  1907,  1920.  For  the  province  of  Tarapaca  they  are 
respectively  45,086,  89,751,  110,036,  100,353;  for  the  province  of  Antofagasta  33,636, 
44,085,  113.323.  172.330. 


CHAPTER  V 
POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA 

The  coastal  desert  of  Chile  and  Peru  was  the  field  of  action 
of  one  of  the  two  greatest  wars  in  the  last  hundred  years  of 
South  American  history.  Its  land  battles  involved  a  type  of 
desert  marching  remindful  of  the  campaigns  of  Alexander  in 
Asia,  and  the  fighting  was  notoriously  desperate ;  its  sea  battles 
engaged,  among  others,  steel-clad  vessels  of  the  kind  first  used 
in  our  Civil  War;  Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  was  occupied 
by  Chilean  troops  for  three  years  (1881-1883);  one  of  the 
articles  of  the  treaty  involved  the  question  of  a  plebiscite 
whose  delayed  settlement  was  the  chief  objective  of  the  Tacna- 
Arica  Conference  held  at  Washington  in  1922  and  now  sub- 
mitted to  the  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  LTnited  States. 
By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Ancon,  which  closed  the  war, 
Peru  lost  control  of  all  of  her  rich  possessions  in  the  desert 
south  of  the  Rio  Sama  (latitude  18°  S.).  Among  the  fourteen 
articles  of  the  treaty,  six  relate  specifically  to  the  guano  de- 
posits of  the  region,  one  to  the  nitrate  deposits  of  Tarapaca, 
while  an  eighth  refers  to  the  territory  in  which  these  deposits 
occur.  Tarapaca  was  ceded  outright  to  Chile.  The  Lobos  Is- 
lands, ofT  the  coast  of  Peru,  were  to  be  administered  by  Chile 
until  one  million  tons  of  guano  were  extracted,  when  they  were 
to  be  returned  to  Peru.  Bolivia  lost  all  of  her  maritime  terri- 
tory and  became  a  landlocked  state. 

The  causes  of  the  War  of  the  Pacific  may  be  understood 
better  by  appreciating  the  fact  that  Peru  based  her  terri- 
torial claim  upon  early  treaties  and  royal  decrees,  while 
the  claim  of  Chile  was  based  upon  effective  occupation  and 
development  and  allegations  of  lack  of  good  faith  on  the 
part  of  Peru  and  Bolivia.  The  two  claims  are  separated  by  a 
long  period  and  are  incommensurable ;  their  settlement  would 
not  have  been  a  difficult  matter  for  a  calm  tribunal ;  but  with 
a  great  stake — the  rich  nitrate  fields — in  the  hazard,  war  was 

83 


84  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

the  Inevitable  consequence.  The  claims  will  be  briefly  exam- 
ined, for  they,  as  well  as  the  war,  have  geographic  relationships 
of  deep  significance. 


The  Peruvo-Chilean  Boundary  in  History 

All  of  the  vast  territory  of  the  Spanish  crown  In  South 
America  was  long  divided  Into  separate  viceroyaltles,  and  out 
of  these  In  a  sense  the  future  republics  were  made.  The  lines  of 
demarcation  between  the  political  units  of  colonial  times  were 
laid  down  In  conformity  with  the  approximations  of  the  early 
Spanish  adventurers,  or  conquistador es,  who  overran  the  coun- 
try; and  these  lines,  recognized  by  royal  decrees  and  In  prac- 
tice, were  the  basis  of  the  treaty  articles,  relating  to  bounda- 
ries, that  were  framed  after  the  wars  of  liberation.  The  present 
territory  of  Chile  was  disposed  of  In  three  concessions.  PI- 
zarro,  the  conqueror  of  Peru,  In  1529  obtained  a  concession  of 
470  leagues,  extending  from  latitude  1°  20'  to  25°  31'  24"  S.  A 
second  concession  was  granted  to  Almagro,  PIzarro's  lieuten- 
ant, the  third  appointee  being  Almagro's  successor,  Valdlvia. 

The  citation  of  different  authors  to  show  acknowledged 
ownership  by  Peru  or  Chile  or  Bolivia  has  been  a  favorite 
method  of  argument  by  partisan  writers  of  each  one  of  these 
countries.  The  method  Is  Invalid  on  the  common  ground  of 
thorough  inconsistency;  for  each  may  easily  bring,  and  each 
has  brought,  to  notice  as  many  Important  "authorities"  as  the 
other.  Several  typical  illustrations  are  in  point.  In  1789  the 
Spanish  sovereign  dispatched  a  scientific  expedition  for  the 
purpose  of  exploring  the  west  coast  of  South  America.  The 
commanders,  Malasplna  and  Bustamente,  had  access  to  all 
the  documents  In  the  archives  of  Spain  relating  to  the  Indies. 
Upon  completing  their  observations  the  explorers  drew  up  a 
map  of  the  world  on  which  the  twenty-second  parallel  was 
represented  as  the  northern  limit  of  Chile,  thus  assigning  to 
Chile  a  larger  share  of  the  disputed  territory  than  she  actually 
possessed  or  than  she  had  even  claimed  since  the  first  founda- 
tion of  the  colony.  Absurd  as  this  assignment  appears  as 
proof  of  ownership,  It  is,  nevertheless,  gravely  adduced  In  a 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  85 

serious  argument  by  Alejandro  Fierro,  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs  in  Chile. '^^  Another  disinterested  and  early  writer,  the 
Jesuit  historian  Juan  Ignatius  Molina,  in  an  important  general 
work  on  Chile, ''^  presented  a  map  of  that  country  as  the  frontis- 
piece of  his  book  and  indicated  the  northern  boundary  north 
of  the  Rio  Salado,  approximately  on  the  twenty-fourth  paral- 
lel. (Molina  shows  the  Rio  Salado  at  25°  S.,  actually  it  is  26° 
20'  S.)  The  number  of  such  contradictions  is  hardly  exceeded 
by  the  number  of  writers  themselves.  The  worthlessness  and 
unknown  character  of  the  region  made  it  a  matter  of  trifling 
consequence  to  which  country  the  maps  assigned  it.^° 

The  controversy  is  not  to  be  settled  by  reference  to  royal 
decrees,  which  seem  to  conflict  in  proportion  to  distance  from 
the  territory  which  they  attempt  to  assign.  After  the  conquest 
of  southern  Chile,  Almagro  received  from  the  Spanish  crown  a 
grant  of  200  leagues  south  of  the  southern  limit  of  Peru"  and 
became  governor  of  this  territory,  with  specific  instructions  as 
to  the  manner  of  organization  and  administration  of  the  na- 
tives. Santiago,  the  present  capital  of  Chile,  was  founded  by 
Pedro  de  Valdivia,  who  was  appointed  successor  to  Almagro 
by  La  Gasca,  then  governor  of  Peru,  in  the  name  of  the  Span- 
ish crown.  La  Gasca  wrote  the  Council  of  the  Indies  on  May  7, 
1548,  of  the  appointment  of  Valdivia  and  incidentally  notes 
the  limits  of  the  territory  within  his  jurisdiction:  " — from 
Copiapo,  which  is  at  twenty-seven  degrees  from  the  equinoctial 
line  toward  the  south  until  forty-one  degrees  to  the  north,  to 
south  straight  meridian,  and  wide  from  the  sea  inland  100 
leagues  west  to  east,"  a  concession  which  was  confirmed  by  the 
Spanish  emperor,  Charles  V.  But  the  Royal  Decrees  of  June  3, 
1801,  and  June  26,  1803,  declare  that  Paposo  (about  25°  S.) 
was  then  considered  as  the  capital  of  the  entire  coast  and  des- 

38  Diario  Oficial  de  la  Republica  de  Chile,  in  translation  from  official  documents 
published  as  "Narrative  of  the  Events  Which  Led  to  the  Declaration  of  War  by  Chili 
Against  Bolivia  and  Peru,"  London,  1879,  pp.  lo-ii. 

39  G.  I.  Molina:  Saggio  sulla  storia  naturale  del  Chili,  Bologna,  1782. 

*"  See  in  this  connection  the  northern  boundary  of  Chile,  on  the  map  of  1839  repro- 
duced as  Fig.  50  on  page  177. 

^1  J.  T.  Medina:  Colleccion  de  documentos  ineditos  para  la  historia  de  Chile  desde 
el  viaje  de  Magallanes  hasta  la  batalla  de  Maipo  1518-1818,  30  vols.,  Santiago,  1888- 
1902;  reference  in  Vol.  4,  "Almagro  y  sus  compaileros,"  pp.  239-243,  "Decree  of  July 
19.  I534-" 


86  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

ert  of  Atacama  and  subject  to  Santiago  de  Chile,  thus  inval- 
idating the  earlier  allotment  to  Almagro.  These  decrees  were 
subsequently  altered,  however,  by  the  Royal  Warrant  of  Octo- 
ber 10,  1803,  which  ordered  that  the  desert  of  Atacama  should 
be  separated  from  Chile  and  assigned  to  Peru.^^  The  warrant 
was  never  carried  into  effect,  and  later  administrative  acts 
only  increased  the  confusion  which  the  contradictory  and  un- 
enforced decrees  and  warrants  served  if  they  did  not  create. 
For  example,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  bay  of 
Paposo  was  the  center  of  commerce  on  the  coast  of  Atacama 
and  the  center  of  almost  the  whole  population  of  the  region. 
It  was  governed  by  a  judge  appointed  by  Chilean  authorities. 
Likewise,  in  1679,  more  than  a  century  earlier,  the  discovery 
of  tillable  lands  at  Paposo  (then  the  Bay  of  Nuestra  Sefiora) 
led  to  the  issuance  of  a  grant  to  the  discoverers  by  the  governor 
and  captain  general  of  Chile. 

It  is  clear  indication  of  the  confused  state  of  affairs  that  in 
spite  of  these  acts  plainly  pointing,  in  themselves,  to  at  least  a 
reasonable  claim  of  ownership  by  Chile,  the  desert  of  Atacama, 
north  of  the  twenty-seventh  parallel,  was  never  claimed  by 
Chile  in  the  various  constitutions  promulgated  between  the 
years  1822  and  1833,  in  each  of  which  the  phrase,  the  "desert 
of  Atacama,"  indicates  the  northern  boundary  of  the  republic. 
At  that  time  the  phraseology  of  the  boundary  articles  was  of 
little  concern;  the  desert  was  of  so  little  worth  that  it  was 
thought  an  ideal  boundary.  Territorial  rights  were  understood 
and  exercised  by  Peru  within  the  limits  of  the  twenty-seventh 
parallel  without  question  on  the  part  of  Chile,  a  point  upon 
which  there  is  abundant  evidence,  both  in  the  treaties  between 
these  two  countries  and  in  the  individual  acts  of  the  merchants 
and  developers  of  the  resources  of  the  region. 

Pacific  Littoral  Acquired  by  Bolivia 

Such  was  the  status  of  the  question  down  to  the  time  that 
Bolivia  acquired  a  portion  of  the  Pacific  littoral  lying  between 

^-  Diario  Oficial  de  la  Republica  de  Chile,  in  translation  from  official  documents 
published  as  "Narrative  of  the  Events  Which  Led  to  the  Declaration  of  War  by  Chili 
Against  Bolivia  and  Peru,"  London,  1879,  pp.  9-10. 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  87 

the  twenty-third  and  twenty-fourth  parallels.  The  right  of 
Bolivia  to  this  territory  was  recognized  by  Chile  in  a  number 
of  acts,  of  which  the  following  may  be  instanced.  Between  the 
years  1842  and  1845  the  Bolivian  Consul  at  London  brought 
suit  against  the  Chilean  frigate  Lacaw  for  having  clandestinely 
taken  a  cargo  of  guano  from  the  seaboard  recognized  as  belong- 
ing to  Bolivia.  The  British  law  courts  pronounced  sentence 
upon  the  ship;  and  no  objection  was  offered  by  Chile  either 
to  the  suit  or  to  the  sentence. 

The  treaty  between  Bolivia  and  Peru  provided  for  a  bound- 
ary between  those  countries,  and  Chile  was  therefore  separated 
from  Peru  by  a  broad  strip  of  desert  territory  owned  by 
Bolivia.  Under  these  circumstances  and  with  the  historical 
facts  of  the  case  in  mind,  but  one  conclusion  can  follow. 
The  northern  boundary  of  Chile  was  long  at  the  twenty- 
seventh  parallel,  but  the  vigorous  claims  of  Chile  to  all  the 
territory  as  far  north  as  the  twenty-fourth  parallel  resulted 
in  this  as  the  final  boundary  between  Bolivia  and  Chile,  as 
determined  by  the  treaty  of  1874.  It  would  seem  from  an 
examination  of  these  facts  that  the  question  of  boundaries 
would  be  settled  along  lines  guided  by  the  treaties  of  1874  ^^^ 
the  years  immediately  succeeding,  which  made  specific  men- 
tion of  towns,  ports,  parallels,  and  the  like. 

Significance  of  Nitrate  as  a  National  Resource 

The  Intense  rivalry  of  the  neighboring  states  with  respect  to 
the  ownership  of  the  nitrate  fields  has  its  foundation  In  the 
exceptional  value  of  the  deposits:  they  proved  to  be  richer 
than  the  guano  deposits,  at  first  considered  the  chief  resource 
of  the  desert  coast. ^^  The  nitrate  beds  lie  near  the  sea,  are 
worked  with  comparative  ease,  and  are  in  great  demand  among 
the  densely  populated  countries  of  Europe  as  fertilizer  to  main- 
tain the  high  productivity  of  their  long-tilled  lands.    Further- 

^3  In  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  Chilean  deposits  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that 
in  1920  Chilean  nitrate  accounted  for  about  one-third  only  of  the  world's  production 
of  fixed  inorganic  nitrogen;  two-fifths  came  from  atmospheric  nitrogen,  a  source  insig- 
nificant before  the  World  War.  The  cost  of  producing  the  latter  tends  to  come  down 
while  the  former  goes  up  (E.  Kilburn  Scott:  Nitrates  and  Ammonia  from  Atmospheric 
Nitrogen.     Journ.  Royal  Soc.  of  Arts,  Vol.  71,  1923,  pp.  859-876). 


88  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

more,  the  deposits  are  unique  in  their  occurrence.  Chile  ex- 
changed her  national  debt  for  a  national  endowment  when  she 
took  possession  of  Tarapaca,  and  Peru  lost  a  source  of  wealth 
that  left  her  financially  troubled.  Chile  sought  to  cripple  her 
rival  completely  that  there  might  never  again  arise  any  ques- 
tion of  ownership  over  so  important  a  source  of  wealth,  and  the 
most  effective  means  at  hand  was  the  complete  annexation  of 
the  nitrate  fields.  The  year  before  the  war,  1878,  Tarapaca 
yielded  300,000  tons  of  nitrate.  In  that  year  the  foreign  debt 
of  Chile  reached  $35,000,000,  and  the  yearly  expenditure  had 
risen  to  $15,000,000 — a  condition  met  by  heavy  taxes  burden- 
some to  the  people.  Quite  as  much  for  its  political  effect  as  for 
the  territorial  questions  involved,  the  government  sought  re- 
lief in  the  acquisition  of  the  rich  nitrate  deposits  of  the  desert. 

Before  the  war  with  Peru  and  Bolivia  copper,  wheat,  and 
wool  were  among  the  principal  exports  in  total  value.  By  1891 , 
ten  years  after  full  production  following  the  war,  nitrate  and 
iodine  (a  by-product)  together  had  a  value  five  times  as  great 
as  the  wheat  exported  and  seven  times  that  of  copper;  and  by 
1902  their  combined  value  was  fifty  times  that  of  wheat  and 
eight  times  that  of  copper.  The  significance  of  the  nitrate 
export  tax  in  Chilean  finance  today  is  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  during  the  period  1 895-1 910  the  export  duties  on  nitrate 
and  its  principal  by-product  iodine  constituted  between  44  and 
56  per  cent  of  the  total  revenue  received  by  the  government.*^ 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  moment  Peru's  forces 
were  overthrown,  that  moment  the  large  income  derived  from 
the  high  export  duty  on  nitrate  was  diverted  to  the  Chilean 
treasury.  No  long  period  of  recuperation  was  necessary  as  in 
the  case  of  an  agricultural  region  overrun  and  devastated  by 
invading  armies.  Neither  in  this  war  nor  in  the  revolution  of 
1 89 1  in  Chile  was  there  any  really  serious  interference  with 
the  nitrate  establishments  that  are  the  life  of  the  region.  All 
parties  to  the  conflict  were  wise  enough  to  see  the  plain  folly 
of  disturbing  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  egg.  Nitrate  ex- 
ports continued  much  as  usual,  and  export  taxes  were  collected 

"  C.  A.  McQueen:  Principal  Features  of  Chilean  Finances,  Suppl.  to  Commerce 
Repts.,  Nov.  26,  1923. 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  89 

as  usual;  and  at  once  money  began  to  flow  into  the  depleted 
Chilean  treasury. 

Strategy  of  the  War 

It  was  a  favorite  saying  of  old  Marshal  Castilla  that  when 
Chile  bought  a  battleship  Peru  should  buy  two,  and  the 
statement  was  completely  vindicated  by  the  events  of  the  war 
with  Chile.  No  longitudinal  railways  existed  then  which  could 
in  even  small  measure  take  the  place  of  the  ocean  highway. 
The  railways  ran  at  right  angles  to  the  coast  and  were  all  short. 
Those  in  Tarapaca  did  not  even  run  near  towns  capable  of 
supplying  food  and  water;  they  were  built  for  nitrate  exporta- 
tion, and  it  was  more  important  to  reach  these  fields  directly 
than  it  was  to  touch  at  the  insignificant  sources  of  food  supply 
in  the  desert. 

The  first  contact  with  the  raw  and  naked  desert  occurred 
after  the  seizure  of  Antofagasta  (Feb.  14,  1879),  when  Colonel 
Sotomayor  led  an  expedition  of  about  500  men  against  the 
oasis  of  Calama  in  the  Loa  valley  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
desert  of  Tarapaca  and  against  the  mining  district  of  Caracoles 
about  forty  miles  to  the  south.  The  detachment  was  obliged  to 
transport  water  sufficient  to  last  many  days,  to  endure  great 
heat  by  day  and  cold  by  night,  to  cross  steep  mountain  spurs 
with  an  excessive  amount  of  camp  impedimenta,  and  to  be  in 
fighting  trim  when  its  objectives  were  reached.*^ 

Control  of  the  Sea 

On  April  5,  the  Chilean  fleet  sailed  north  to  blockade  Iqui- 
que  and  harass  the  coast  from  its  base  of  operations  at  Anto- 
fagasta, where  an  army  was  stationed  to  follow  up  the  successes 
of  the  navy.  The  Chilean  admiral  was  instructed  to  destroy 
all  facilities  on  the  Peruvian  coast  for  the  shipment  of  guano 
and  nitrate,  thus  suspending  the  chief  source  of  Peruvian  in- 
come. Pisagua  was  shelled,  piers  and  wharves  demolished, 
and  lighters  wrecked.   Iquique  was  blockaded  and  became  the 

^5  Diego  Barros  Arana:  Histoire  de  la  guerre  du  Pacifiique,  1879-1881,  2  vols.,  Paris, 
1881-82;  reference  in  Vol.  2,  p.  52. 


90  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

rendezvous  of  the  Chilean  fleet  in  harassing  the  Peruvian  coast. 
The  1400  miles  of  Peruvian  coast  line  Is  broken  by  only  thirty 
valleys  where  supplies  of  food  may  be  obtained  In  crossing  the 
barren  desert/"^  Rapid  movement  of  troops  from  place  to 
place  Is,  therefore,  Impossible  by  land;  and,  when  the  Peruvian 
navy  was  destroyed,  each  military  unit  was  obliged  to  work 
out  Its  own  problems  alone.  Chile,  on  the  other  hand,  was  able 
to  concentrate  her  entire  force  upon  a  single  point  and  crush 
her  opponents,  then  move  on  to  the  next  point,  certain  that 
her  transports  were  free  from  danger.  In  this  way  It  was  not 
long  until  Chile  had  control  of  the  entire  littoral. 

The  blockade  of  the  coast  ports  of  Tarapaca  Is  a  far  different 
thing  from  the  blockade  of  the  ports  of  a  self-contained  coun- 
try. There  are  no  streams  on  which  ships  of  war  can  be  built 
and  sent  to  sea  to  run  a  blockade,  no  railways  for  the  rounda- 
bout transmission  of  goods,  not  even  the  bare  necessaries  of 
life.  Light  mountain  artillery  can  be  taken  over  the  desert 
with  difficulty,  heavy  siege  guns  are  Impossible  of  transporta- 
tion. One  of  the  most  Interesting  maneuvers  of  the  war  was 
carried  out  at  Tacna  and  Arica  and  Illustrates  admirably  the 
Isolation  of  the  various  units  of  the  widely-scattered  Peruvian 
army.  After  the  preliminary  events  In  Tarapaca  and  the  re- 
treat of  the  Peruvian  forces  to  Arica,  Chile  began  the  cam- 
paign against  Arica,  then  the  most  important  port  In  southern 
Peru.  The  plan  included  the  separation  of  Arica  and  Tacna, 
which  are  connected  by  rail,  and  the  shutting  off  of  supplies 
coming  to  the  Peruvian  army  from  Tacna  and  Moquega.  Ten 
thousand  men  were  embarked  at  Iqulque  and  PIsagua,  and,  on 
February  26,  1880,  they  landed  at  Ilo  and  Pacocha,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Moquega  valley  (Fig.  i).  Using  the  railway,  the 
Chilean  forces  were  transported  up  valley,  and  In  the  battle  of 
Torata,  15  miles  northeast  of  Moquega,  the  Peruvians  were 
defeated,  and  Tacna  was  Isolated  from  the  sea.  The  route  from 
Moquega  to  Tacna  followed  by  the  Chilean  forces  Is  inter- 
rupted by  the  valleys  of  the  Locumba  and  Sama,  the  only  two 
places  where  water  may  be  secured  for  man  or  beast.   The  In- 

«  G.  I.  Adams:  An  Outline  Review  of  the  Geology  of  Peru,  Ann.  Kept.  Smithsonian 
Instn.  for  igo8,  pp.  385-430;  see  maps  opp.  p.  430. 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  91 

tervening  plains  are  sandy,  with  steep  descents  toward  the 
valleys;  and  horses  and  men  were  so  parched  with  thirst  that 
water  had  to  be  carried  to  the  amount  of  40,000  liters  for  each 
day  spent  in  the  desert. 


Difficulties  of  a  Desert  Campaign 

In  spite  of  the  desperate  natural  difficulties  the  Chileans 
were  nearly  always  successful,  for  their  armies  were  almost 
uniformly  larger  than  the  armies  of  the  allies,  their  guns  were 
larger  and  more  modern,  and  they  fought  with  a  fierceness 
and  courage  that  cannot  be  overestimated.  But  the  desert 
was  no  less  difficult  for  the  Peruvians  than  for  the  Chileans. 
Great  efforts  were  made  to  send  relief  to  the  army  at  Tacna, 
but  desert  country  intervened,  and  before  relief  came  the 
Chileans  had  reached  the  place  and  invested  it.  Supplies  of 
war  were  shipped  with  difficulty  by  both  parties,  and  the 
superior  mounts  of  the  Chilean  cavalry  were  in  themselves  a 
powerful  factor  in  overcoming  the  desert  sands. 

It  must  also  be  recognized  that  defeat  in  the  desert  is  a  far 
different  thing  from  defeat  in  a  fertile  country.  Time  and 
again  when  the  allied  forces  (Peruvian  and  Bolivian)  were 
overwhelmed,  the  men  scattered  to  the  four  winds  for  safety. 
The  desert  fought  them  as  fiercely  as  did  the  Chileans.  In  the 
battle  of  San  Francisco,  which  secured  Iquique  to  Chile,  the 
success  of  the  Chileans  was  not  defeat  to  the  allies  but  ruin. 
The  allied  army  was  without  food,  without  stores  of  any  kind, 
and  without  a  base  of  supplies.  The  Bblivians  retreated  by 
way  of  the  desert  and  mountain  valleys  to  the  interior;  the 
surviving  Peruvians  began  their  retreat  at  midnight,  dragging 
their  guns  laboriously  over  the  trackless  desert  for  a  distance 
only  to  abandon  them  finally.  The  Chilean  army  was  10,000 
strong.  Against  the  antiquated  guns  of  the  Peruvians  they 
opposed  thirty-two  long-range  field  guns  and  a  large  force  of 
splendid  cavalry.  They  were  also  connected  with  a  railroad 
base,  and  supplies  of  water  and  food  were  regularly  delivered. 
After  three  days  of  terrible  heat,  hunger,  and  fatigue,  the  men 
were  finally  brought  to  the  ravine  of  Tarapaca,  practically 


92  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

famished.  The  final  march  had  occupied  fifty  hours,  but  only 
a  short  rest  could  be  enjoyed,  for  the  oasis  is  tiny.  During  a 
part  of  the  retreat  the  army  marched  along  the  edge  of  the 
Cordillera.  At  one  time  they  rested  in  the  gorge  of  Aroma,  the 
next  day  at  the  oasis  of  Camifia  with  its  green  clover  fields  and 
vineyards,  and  then  followed  a  long  desert  march  to  Cama- 
rones  and  Arica  (Fig.  i). 


Fig.  29 — El  Morro,  the  hill  of  ArIca,  scene  of  a  famous  battle  of  the  War  of  the 
Pacific  (1879-1883).  The  town  is  north  (left)  of  the  hill  and  is  the  seaport  for 
Tacna,  an  interior  oasis,  besides  being  one  of  the  three  Bolivian  railway  outlets  on 
the  Pacific.  (Photograph  by  Professor  Bailey  Willis,  Chilian  Earthquake  Expe- 
dition, Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington.) 

A  short  half  hour's  walk  southwest  of  the  seaport  town  Arica, 
and  one  has  crossed  a  low  ridge  beyond  which  stretch  miles  of 
yellow  sand  and  barren  desert  plateau.  There,  in  a  lonely  spot, 
harried  by  the  wind  and  blasted  by  the  shifting  sands,  is  a 
group  of  low  wooden  crosses.  They  lean  at  every  angle,  some 
are  overthrown,  all  bear  rude  inscriptions.  Projecting  from 
the  sand  are  portions  of  rough  shoes  and  rags  from  old  uni- 
forms, and  scattered  about  are  rusty  cartridge  shells  of  anti- 
quated design.  These  are  the  rude  memorials  of  the  Waterloo 
of  the  War  of  the  Pacific. 

The  slope  at  whose  foot  these  marks  are  found  leads  up  to 
El  Morro,  the  670-foot  hill  of  Arica,  which  overlooks  the  sea. 
Here  was  fought  one  of  the  hardest  battles  of  the  war;  and 
here,  too,  are  the  works  of  defense,  although  the  Chileans  have 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  93 

dismantled  the  old  fortifications  and  all  but  obliterated  the 
old  defenses.  A  few  pieces  of  steel  rails,  bent  and  twisted ; 
scraps  of  cannon  and  an  occasional  cartridge;  the  spokes  of 
gun  carriages,  still  driven  into  the  solid  rock;  a  few  rifle  pits; 
these  are  all  that  remain  to  tell  of  an  heroic  defense  and  a 
fierce  irresistible  attack  that  drove  the  Peruvian  forces  from 
what  had  been  considered  an  impregnable  position.  Steep 
slopes,  in  some  places  sheer,  defend  the  hill  on  all  but  one  side, 
and  it  is  little  wonder  that  Peru  trusted  it  greatly.  Its  loss 
ended  the  most  serious  opposition  that  Peruvian  forces  offered 
the  Chilean  invaders. 

With  the  fall  of  Arica,  Chile  controlled  the  coast  line  from 
the  Strait  of  Magellan  to  Mollendo  in  southern  Peru.  The 
navy  moved  north  and  occupied  the  San  Lorenzo  Islands  op- 
posite Callao,  the  chief  port  of  Peru.  The  islands  had  not  been 
fortified  by  Peru,  although  they  control  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor;  and,  using  them  as  a  base,  it  was  not  long  before  the 
Chilean  fleet  had  bombarded  the  town  and  put  the  Peruvians 
on  the  defensive  about  their  capital  city.  In  the  effort  to 
deprive  Peru  of  all  means  for  continuing  the  war,  a  naval 
marauding  expedition  was  fitted  out;  and,  certain  that  each 
town  could  derive  no  assistance  from  a  neighboring  valley,  it 
proceeded  to  lay  waste  the  coast  from  Callao  to  Paita. 

Continued  Importance  of  Sea  Control 

The  tactics  of  the  fight  at  Lima  again  illustrate  admirably 
the  dependence  of  success  upon  control  of  the  sea.  Chile,  safe 
at  the  San  Lorenzo  Islands,  gathered  supplies  and  completed 
her  preparations  without  interference  from  the  enemy.  The 
Peruvian  defense,  stretched  out  for  eight  miles  along  a  line  of 
hills  near  Lima,  was  apparently  very  strong,  and  it  was  sug- 
gested that  the  long  line  be  outflanked  on  the  northeast;  but 
the  plan  would  have  required  breaking  communications  with 
the  fleet  and  making  a  long  march  of  fifteen  miles  through  the 
desert  with  the  men  tired  out  at  the  beginning  of  a  hard  fight. 
The  advance  was  therefore  made  with  the  left  wing  on  the 
seashore.   After  hard  fighting  and  repeated  cavalry  and  bayo- 


94  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

net  charges,  the  Peruvian  army  was  completely  routed,  and 
the  first  line  of  defense  was  abandoned.  The  second  line  of  de- 
fense was  carried  two  days  later,  January  15;  and  after  stub- 
born fighting  Lima  itself  was  occupied  on  the  i6th.  The 
president  and  many  of  the  Peruvian  officers  fled  to  the  high 
mountain  valleys.  Here  also  fled  remnants  of  the  Peruvian 
army  that  kept  up  a  guerrilla  warfare  against  isolated  Chilean 
detachments  until  finally  Chile  was  obliged  to  send  small  ex- 
peditions into  the  interior.  Bolivia  could  do  little  in  support  of 
her  ally.  Some  supplies  were  shipped  overland  from  Buenos 
Aires  to  La  Paz  and  Lake  Titicaca  for  the  defense  of  Arequipa, 
but  this  town  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chileans  and  fur- 
nished a  base  from  which  to  overrun  the  country  and  suppress 
the  last  scattered  activities  of  the  bands  of  guerrillas. 

The  Chilean  Revolution 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  in  the  Chilean  revolution  of 
1 89 1  the  general  principle  of  control  of  the  sea  was  illustrated 
again  as  neatly  as  in  the  war  with  Peru  twelve  years  before. 
Almost  without  warning,  the  rebel  fleet  sailed  away  from  the 
harbor  of  Valparaiso  and  in  a  few  days  dropped  anchor  in 
the  nitrate  ports,  which  they  seized  without  any  real  resistance. 
There  they  enjoyed  a  measure  of  security  which  seems  almost 
ridiculous  until  one  understands  the  physical  geography  of 
the  region.  A  campaign  by  land  was  out  of  the  question,  even 
had  President  Balmaceda  enjoyed  the  support  of  his  people. 
There  were  no  railways;  the  villages  along  the  line  of  march 
were  small,  wretched  things  which  can  give  but  little  assistance 
to  a  passing  caravan  to  say  nothing  of  a  hungry  army.  The  one 
route  possible  was  the  sea  route,  and  there  were  no  transports, 
even  had  a  part  of  the  fleet  remained  loyal. 

Secure  in  their  desert  ports,  the  rebel  leaders  collected  ex- 
port taxes  on  nitrate  and  with  the  proceeds  bought  supplies  of 
war — modern  guns,  ammunition,  clothing,  and  the  like — and 
recruited  the  army  until  it  was  ten  thousand  strong.  The 
government  was  crippled  to  just  the  degree  that  the  rebels  had 
profited.  The  funds  that  formerly  were  relied  on  were  suddenly 


POLITICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ATACAMA  95 

withdrawn,  and  it  was  a  financially  weakened  opposition  that 
faced  the  rebel  leaders  when  they  finally  sailed  down  to  take 
Valparaiso.  A  landing  was  made,  whole  companies  of  the 
government  troops  went  over  to  the  rebel  camp,  and  after 
several  days  fighting  the  lines  were  closely  drawn  about  the 
city  and  it  fell.  Parallels  to  the  experiences  of  the  earlier  war 
were  both  numerous  and  close.  Today  the  conditions  are  some- 
what changed,  for  although  the  sea  is  still  a  main  highway 
of  commerce  and  war,  the  great  longitudinal  railway  line  now 
completed  to  Pisagua^^  ofi^ers  an  alternative  route. 

It  will  always  be  true,  however,  that  concentrated  naval 
strength  can  offset  the  effect  of  land  operations  throughout  the 
coastal  belt  of  Atacama.  There  is  no  permanent  military  value 
in  the  possession  of  interior  points  alone.  Only  through  the 
free  use  of  the  coastal  outlets  can  the  nitrate  business  be  sus- 
tained. The  control  of  the  sea  continues  to  be  the  prime  con- 
sideration in  the  military  geography  of  the  desert  coast. 

^'  The  state-owned  longitudinal  line  runs  to  Pueblo  Hundido  (20°  40');  the  Anto- 
fagasta-Bolivia  railroad  (British-owned)  has  taken  over  the  Chilean  Northern  rail- 
road extending  to  Pintados  (20°  50')  (J.  M.  Macleod:  Report  on  the  Financial  and 
Industrial  Conditions  in  Chile,  Dept.  of  Overseas  Trade,  London,  1923). 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT 

After  a  journey  over  the  Puna  de  Atacama  in  191 3  I  crossed 
the  Desert  of  Atacama  by  way  of  the  oasis  of  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama  and  a  few  weeks  later  started  for  the  southern  end 
of  the  desert  to  study  the  physical  setting  of  the  towns  and 
settlements  there  and  also  their  social  and  economic  structure. 
The  day  before  I  sailed  for  Caldera,  the  port  of  Copiapo,  the 
sea  became  rough,  and  we  were  told  it  would  be  necessary  to 
take  the  train  to  Coloso,  a  port  two  miles  south  of  Antofagasta. 
There  is  at  Coloso  practically  nothing  more  than  a  beach  front- 
ing a  very  narrow  terrace  formed  in  a  hollow  of  the  coastal 
hills  where  a  point  of  land  projects  northwestward  and  cuts  off 
the  waves  that  sweep  in  from  the  open  sea.  This  port  faces 
the  north  while  Antofagasta  faces  south,  and  when  the  latter 
is  out  of  commission  because  of  a  heavy  sea,  the  former  is 
used  instead.  All  the  port  facilities  are  for  the  nitrate  service, 
and  there  are  no  small  boats  for  passengers.  The  distance 
being  but  two  miles,  rowboats  are  sometimes  allowed  by  the 
port  captain  at  Antofagasta  to  go  by  sea  to  Coloso  so  that 
passengers  may  embark  there,  though  the  charges  are  thereby 
trebled. 

Caldera:  The  Port  of  Copiapo 

One  of  the  most  prominent  things  to  be  seen  on  landing  at 
Caldera  is  the  water-evaporating  plant.  This  and  the  smeltery 
just  outside  the  town,  the  railway  station,  and  the  custom- 
house form  the  chief  constructions  of  this  interesting  port. 
The  town  was  once  much  larger,  when  the  copper  mines  of 
Copiapo  were  among  the  most  important  in  the  world,  but 
now  it  is  a  very  unimportant  place  despite  its  fine  natural  har- 
bor— one  of  the  best  on  the  coast.  It  would  again  become  of 
considerable  importance  if  the  projected  railway  to  Argentina 
could  be  built,  since  a  good  deal  of  the  produce  for  the  nitrate 

96 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT         97 

fields  would  pass  through  Caldera  on  its  way  north  from  Ar- 
gentina. Opposition  to  such  a  railway  from  Salta  to  San  Pedro 
de  Atacama,  farther  north,  or  from  Tinogasta  to  Copiapo,  is  of 
various  sorts. ''^  It  is  argued  by  some  Chileans  that  in  case 
such  a  railway  were  built  Argentina  might  obtain  control  of 
the  nitrate  fields,  and  Chile  has  not  forgotten  the  lesson  of  the 
revolution  of  1891,  when  the  revolutionary  party,  by  taking 
the  nitrate  fields,  captured  the  principal  revenues  and 
equipped  an  army  and  a  fleet  at  its  leisure. 

The  ports  on  the  desert  coast  of  Atacama  have  altogether 
primitive  equipments.  About  1910  the  imports  at  Caldera 
rose  very  rapidly,  and  one  might  suppose  from  the  statistics 
that  this  meant  a  rapid  increase  in  the  business  of  the  hinter- 
land. The  real  reason  was  that  the  port  of  Antofagasta  was 
crowded  on  account  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  nitrate  business 
at  that  time  and  the  necessity  for  importing  huge  quantities  of 
bulky  railroad  material.  Merchants  found  that  it  took  from 
thirty  to  forty  days  to  free  goods  from  the  customs  officials. 
To  avoid  the  dif^culty  the  Antofagasta  merchants  unloaded 
their  goods  at  Caldera,  paid  the  government  duties,  reloaded 
them,  and  discharged  them  at  Antofagasta. 

The  original  port  for  the  valley  of  Copiapo  was  located  at 
Puerto  Viejo,  in  the  Bay  of  Copiapo,  and  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Copiapo  River;  but  there  was  no  protection  from  heavy 
seas,  and  when  mining  interests  were  sufficiently  developed  a 
new  port  was  sought  and  the  old  one  completely  abandoned. 
In  disposing  of  the  land  at  the  new  port  the  inhabitants  were 
given  situations  as  closely  corresponding  to  those  they  had 
enjoyed  in  the  old  port  as  could  be  managed.  With  the  devel- 
opment of  Caldera  and  better  transportation  facilities  con- 
necting with  the  railway  inland,  several  other  "ports,"  little 
copper-exporting  stations,  for  example  Flamenco,  north  of 
Caldera,  and  Obispito,  between  Flamenco  and  Caldera,  were 
abandoned  and  for  a  time  were  without  any  inhabitants  at  all. 

^8  It  is  said  that  agricultural  interests  in  Chile  are  opposed  to  the  line  in  anticipation 
of  competition  of  Argentine  farmers.  Unless  the  Chileans  consent  to  the  Salta  scheme 
the  Argentine  government  will  not  consent  to  the  proposed  southern  transandine 
route  through  Lonquimay  (38°  30')-  For  details  of  the  proposed  Salta- Antofagasta 
line  see  The  West  Coast  Leader,  Oct.  9,  1923. 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT         99 

All  such  ports  are  bound  to  have  a  more  transient  population 
than  the  valleys  which  they  serve,  for  both  the  mines  and  the 
farms  of  such  a  valley  have  a  variable  output  even  when  their 
population  changes  but  little,  and  the  port  is  dependent  alto- 
gether upon  the  trade  of  the  hinterland.  Caldera  once  had 
5000  inhabitants,  but  many  of  them  have  moved  away,  and 
the  population  of  the  town  is  now  only  2500. 


CopiAPo:  History  of  the  City 

At  first  sight  a  desert  town  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants appears  to  be  a  place  of  great  importance.  Such  a 
town  is  Copiapo.  A  few  houses  two  stories  in  height,  a  church 
or  two  with  massive  bell  towers,  well-kept  parks,  ample  gov- 
ernment houses,  and  long  streets  give  a  strangely  cosmopolitan 
air  in  contrast  to  the  usual  desert  town  with  one  or  two  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  for  the  "spread"  of  a  one-story  city  is  amaz- 
ingly large.  Were  the  population  of  New  York  City  to  be 
spread  out  in  this  way,  it  would  cover  about  2500  square  miles 
of  territory,  or  half  that  of  the  state  of  Connecticut;  and  were 
its  food  and  forage  supply  organized  on  the  same  local  basis  it 
would  require  an  area  probably  as  great  as  that  of  New  Jersey, 
8000  square  miles,  and  possibly  as  great  as  Maryland,  12,000 
square  miles.  A  business  organization  such  as  New  York  ex- 
hibits today  would  be  unknown  in  an  extended  city  like 
Copiapo.  Instead  of  a  compact  section  like  lower  Manhattan 
there  would  be  many  nuclei  of  business.  Consider  the  mileage 
of  wire  needed  to  supply  a  telephone  system  for  such  an  ex- 
tended town,  the  mileage  of  street-car  tracks,  the  distances  to 
cover,  and  the  heavy  cost  of  all  these.  A  one-story  town  can- 
not assume  such  a  burden.  Copiapo  takes  its  time.  If  you 
wish  to  see  a  man  living  across  the  river  or  consult  a  ranchman 
two  miles  up  valley  you  do  not  telephone  but  walk  or  ride  a 
horse  or  mule  instead,  and  your  business  is  done  not  in  two 
minutes  but  in  two  hours  or  in  a  half  day.  If  your  affairs  move 
slowly  so  do  those  of  everyone  else. 

Copiapo  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  cities  in  the  desert 
country  of  South  America.    In  historical  interest  it  surpasses 


loo  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

all  other  towns  on  the  west  coast  save  only  Lima  itself,  the 
capital  of  the  old  Viceroyalty  of  Peru.  From  the  time  of  the 
later  Inca  rulers  who  extended  their  empire  into  this  remote 
desert  valley  and  through  the  period  of  the  great  colonial 
governors  it  was  a  post  of  critical  strategic  value.  In  the  period 
of  modern  industrial  development  it  has  at  times  held  first 
place  among  the  cities  of  Chile  for  its  production  of  minerals. 
Its  geographical  situation  has  imparted  to  its  settlement  and 
history  and  to  its  social  and  economic  structure  alike,  certain 
highly  distinctive  qualities, 

I  visited  Copiapo  in  July,  at  the  time  of  the  so-called 
"winter"  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  but  the  freshly  irrigated 
alfalfa  meadows  near  the  town,  the  verdant  willows  and  syca- 
mores that  line  the  irrigation  ditches,  the  wide-spreading  pep- 
per trees  and  tall  eucalypts  that  border  the  Alameda  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  town,  and  the  deep  green  shrubs,  flowers, 
and  palms  of  the  central  octagonal  plaza  gave  no  hint  of  that 
dormancy  that  characterizes  the  winter  of  our  northern  cli- 
mate and  of  more  southerly  latitudes  in  South  America.  Com- 
pared with  most  South  American  cities  of  its  size  (its  popula- 
tion in  1 91 3  was  but  11,000),  it  is  beautifully  kept,  with  clean 
streets,  well  repaired  buildings,  and  a  thoroughly  businesslike 
air,  whether  we  consider  the  management  of  its  mines,  the 
appearance  and  administration  of  its  famous  college  and  its 
still  more  famous  school  of  mines,  or  the  excellent  administra- 
tion of  land  and  water  rights.  It  has  one  of  the  two  deepest 
mines  in  South  America  and  the  deepest  in  Chile  (Dulcinea), 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  had  the  first  railroad,  tele- 
phone, and  telegraph  lines  in  Chile,  and  one  of  the  oldest  opera 
houses,  and  the  first  gas  works.  For  a  time  it  was  the  chief 
center  of  copper  production  in  Chile  when  as  in  the  decades 
1851-1860  to  1871-1880,  Chile  was  the  leading  copper  produc- 
ing country  in  the  world. 

So  distinguished  a  history  is  bound  to  be  reflected  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  place,  the  pride  of  the  people,  and  their  public 
spirit;  and  one  finds  them  on  every  hand  in  this  old  historic 
town.  I  watched  the  children  leave  school  in  mid-afternoon 
and  a  group  of  them  appeared  so  swarthy  and  dark-skinned 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       loi 

that  I  asked  one  of  the  natives  what  percentage  of  Indian  blood 
there  was  in  the  people  of  Copiapo.  He  was  astonished  at  my 
question  and  replied  that  there  was  no  Indian  blood  at  all. 
When  I  told  him  of  my  impressions  of  color  and  head  form  not 
merely  among  the  school  children  but  among  many  of  the  peo- 
ple whom  I  had  met  he  appeared  still  more  surprised  and  told 
me  that  every  well-informed  man  must  know  that  there  were 
no  Indians  and  no  Indian  blood  at  Copiapo,  that  the  people  of 
the  town  were  Chilenos.  When  I  asked  him  about  the  ancestry 
of  these  Chileans  he  said  that  they  were  of  Spanish  descent 
and  that,  though  there  had  been  Indians  in  the  valley  and  a 
certain  amount  of  intermarriage,  the  Indian  population  had 
gradually  disappeared.  The  fact  is,  of  course,  that  the  Indian 
population  has  been  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  white.  But 
it  is  interesting  to  learn  that  the  native  regards  this  mixture 
as  a  new  type,  and  indeed  I  think  it  is.  Of  Indian  customs  and 
ways  of  life,  ancient  religious  ritual,  language,  and  so  forth 
there  is  not  a  trace — in  contrast  to  the  almost  barbaric  mixture 
of  Christian  and  Indian  rites  in  northern  Atacama  or  in  high- 
land Bolivia  and  Peru.  Everyone  speaks  Spanish,  the  laws  are 
impartially  enforced,  and  there  is  no  distinction  in  land  tenure 
or  government  or  social  affairs  on  grounds  of  race  or  color. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  Hispanic-American  life  is 
the  persistence  of  given  families  in  certain  historical  locations. 
Where  there  was  a  Diaz  at  the  beginning  of  colonial  life  there 
you  will  find  many  Diaz  families  today.  If  a  colonial  grant  was 
made  to  a  Gonzales  you  will  now  find  a  Gonzales  in  possession 
of  the  land.  Perhaps  this  would  not  strike  a  Frenchman  or  an 
Englishman  as  a  matter  of  special  interest,  for  the  inheritance 
of  landed  property  and  reluctance  to  part  with  it,  in  short  the 
fixed  and  stable  quality  of  the  old  life  of  these  countries,  is 
somewhat  similar  to  that  which  we  find  in  Hispanic  America 
or  in  Spain  or  Italy.  In  Copiapo  it  is  illustrated  by  the 
family  name  of  Aguirre.  Francisco  de  Aguirre  was  the  founder 
of  Copiapo,  and  his  descendants  are  scattered  throughout  the 
region  today. 

Having  passed  a  week  in  Copiapo  I  had  become  acquainted 
through  the  officials  of  the  mining  companies  and  through 


102  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

public  officers  with  some  of  the  leading  families  and  was  in- 
vited to  a  ball  at  the  house  of  Seiior  Camilo  Aguirre,  a  descend- 
ant of  the  conqueror.  It  was  a  most  agreeable  occasion  for  me, 
partly  because  I  had  never  witnessed  so  elaborate  an  affair  in 
what  might  be  called  a  frontier  town,  and  partly  because  of  the 
festive  spirit  that  reigned,  for  it  was  the  birthday  of  the  old 
gentleman  and  the  occasion  had  brought  out  the  leading  fami- 
lies, all  of  them  of  marked  cultivation  and  intellectually  as  in- 
teresting as  any  company  of  men  and  women  to  be  found 
anywhere. 

The  influence  which  the  Aguirre  family  wields  in  the  region 
today  and  the  distinction  it  enjoys  are  not  based  solely  upon 
the  achievements  of  the  conqueror  from  whom  the  family  has 
descended.  They  are  based  also  and  chiefly  upon  character 
and  strength  of  purpose  in  the  present  generation.  Though  the 
landed  estates  of  the  older  families  give  them  marked  distinc- 
tion, it  is  in  the  government  of  the  city  and  in  what  might  be 
called  the  native  trade  of  the  town  as  distinct  from  the  trade 
which  the  foreigner  controls  through  ownership  of  mines  and 
railways  that  their  influence  is  chiefly  based.  In  a  book  by 
Luis  Silva  Lezaeta,  published  in  1904,  there  is  an  account  of 
the  life  of  El  Conquistador  Francisco  de  Aguirre  and  (in  an 
appendix)  a  list  of  his  descendants.  The  exploits  of  this  famous 
old  Spanish  captain  (his  portrait  forms  the  frontispiece  of  the 
book)  are  among  the  most  renowned  of  central  and  southern 
South  America.  Only  four  short  years  after  Almagro  went  via 
Tupiza  to  Copiapo,  Aguirre  went  this  way  also.  Like  Almagro, 
he  crossed  the  high  and  cold  Puna  de  Atacama,  taking  the 
route  via  Sapaleri,  Chaxnanter,  and  Guayaques,  to  San  Pedro 
de  Atacama,  where  he  arrived  in  April,  1540.  Two  months 
later  he  was  joined  there  by  Pedro  de  Valdivia  who  had  taken 
the  road  of  the  desert,  "Despoblado,"  from  Tarapaca.  To- 
gether they  reached  Copiapo  in  September. 

In  the  "Valle  de  la  Posesion,"  as  Valdivia  termed  Copiapo, 
the  Spaniards  found  a  high  state  of  cultivation  based  on  char- 
acteristic Inca  methods.  When  the  Incas  had  effected  the 
conquest  of  Copiapo  they  found  there  a  scattered  hunting 
population.   The  conquering  forces  cleared  the  dense  thickets 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       103 

of  chaiiar  and  algarrobo  that  filled  the  lower  valley,  started 
irrigation,  founded  communal  granaries,  and  distributed  the 
population  in  orderly  fashion  along  the  valley  in  the  linear 
manner  of  the  Peruvian  coast  valleys.  Between  the  dis- 
tribution in  the  northern  and  southern  valleys,  however,  an 
important  difference  obtained.  In  the  Chilean  valleys  climate 
and  topography  restrict  cultivation  to  lower  altitudes:  in  the 
Copiapo  valley  cultivation  stops  a  little  above  4000  feet.  The 
development  of  the  Chilean  valleys  differed  also  in  respect  of 
external  relations.  Here  the  valley  roads  lead  to  no  broad  pla- 
teau, seat  of  a  comparatively  numerous  population  after  the 
manner  of  the  valleys  of  Arequipa  and  Arica  that  give  access 
to  the  Titicaca  basin.  A  little  huanaco  and  vicuiia  wool  came 
down  from  the  cordillera,  but  the  lower  valleys  were  as  self- 
contained  and  independent  as  the  oases  farther  north. 

On  their  arrival  the  Spaniards  put  into  service  both  the  des- 
ert route  and  that  over  the  cordillera,  especially  the  former,  for 
the  road  of  the  cordillera  presented  greater  difficulties  and  was 
closed  for  part  of  the  year.  The  road  through  the  desert  was 
made  possible  by  the  existence  of  the  line  of  springs  and  oases 
that  closely  define  its  course.  Traces  of  the  Inca  road  are  still 
extant.  Between  Tilomonte  and  Copiapo,  a  distance  of  nearly 
300  miles,  it  is  described  as  running  in  a  straight  line  and  as 
being  a  band  of  cleared  earth,  about  four  feet  wide  and  concave 
in  section. ^^  On  either  hand  in  certain  portions  of  the  road  are 
ancient  pircas,  or  stone  walls,  probably  the  remains  of  tam- 
berias,  or  rest  huts.  On  the  passes  traversed  by  the  road  are 
piles  of  stone,  apacheias  (p.  23),  accumulated  as  the  offering  of 
the  Indians  to  the  guardian  of  the  road,  in  much  the  same  way 
as  the  Arab  adds  a  stone  "for  good  luck"  to  the  piles  near  the 
oases. 

The  journey  by  sea  in  the  early  colonial  period  consumed  an 
inordinate  amount  of  time.  The  voyage  from  Callao  to  Chile, 
hugging  the  shore,  usually  took  a  twelvemonth  or  more.  It 
was  not  until  the  early  eighteenth  century  that  a  bold  and  ob- 
servant mariner,  noting  the  regular  direction  of  winds  and  cur- 

49  Santiago  Munoz:  Jeografia  descriptiva  de  las  provincias  de  Atacama  i  Antofa- 
gasta,  Santiago,  1894,  p.  127. 


104  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

rents  at  a  distance  offshore,  dared  to  sail  far  from  land  and 
thus  made  Chile  in  thirty  days.  The  extraordinary  nature  of 
his  feat  is  appreciated  when  we  learn  that  he  was  promptly 
apprehended  as  a  sorcerer  and  cast  into  prison  until  the  natural 
basis  of  his  skill  became  understood!  The  road  of  the  desert 
then  provided  the  essential  connection  between  Peru  and  the 
new  province  of  Chile.  As  the  Lima-Buenos  Aires  road  created 
the  settlement  of  Salta  (see  Chapter  IX),  so  the  desert  road  to 
Chile  led  to  the  foundation  of  a  number  of  Chilean  settlements 
chief  among  which  were  Serena  and  Copiapo.  Juan  Bohon, 
one  of  Valdivia's  followers,  erected  a  fort  in  the  Copiapo  val- 
ley, the  first  important  valley  beyond  the  great  desert  stretch, 
and,  as  an  intermediate  station  between  this  point  and  San- 
tiago, established  Serena  in  1544.  But  he  enjoyed  his  extensive 
grant  for  a  short  period  only.  Five  years  later  the  Indians  rose, 
sacked  Serena,  killed  Bohon  and  his  dependents,  and  de- 
stroyed the  fort  in  the  Copiapo  valley.  Bohon's  encomiendas 
were  conceded  to  Francisco  de  Aguirre. 

Aguirre  promptly  rebuilt  Serena  and  established  himself  in 
the  Copiapo  valley  on  the  site  of  the  present  town.  Here  at  a 
convenient  distance  from  his  rivals  to  the  south  he  set  to  work 
planting  vineyards  and  introducing  various  Spanish  products 
to  which  the  climate  was  admirably  adapted.  Later  Valdivia 
appointed  him  Governor  of  Tucuman;  for  the  limits  of  Chile, 
as  originally  defined  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  geography  of  the 
region,  extended  over  the  Andes  onto  the  eastern  plains.  The 
simultaneous  exploration  of  vast  territories  from  different 
starting  points  led  to  innumerable  clashes  among  the  early 
colonists.  Aguirre'snewappointment  provided  one.  Nunez  de 
Prado,  acting  under  the  orders  of  La  Gasca  in  Peru,  had  already 
founded  the  settlement  of  Barco  in  Tucuman.  His  venture 
proved  unsuccessful ;  the  city  had  in  a  short  space  of  time  been 
moved  three  times;  and  its  unhappy  citizens  welcomed  his  de- 
posal  at  the  hands  of  Aguirre,  who  arrived  in  1552  with  re- 
sources from  the  Copiapo  valley.  The  next  year  Aguirre  trans- 
ferred the  city  to  the  site  it  now  occupies,  changing  its  name  to 
Santiago  del  Estero  del  Nuevo  Maestrazgo.  Thus  an  Aguirre 
has  the  distinction  of  having  founded  the  first  and  oldest  city 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       105 

of  Argentina.  There  he  laid  the  foundations  of  agriculture  on  a 
satisfactory  basis.  The  grateful  citizens  testified  "he  has  spent 
and  spends  many  pesos  of  gold  in  the  provisioning  of  this  land, 
for  he  has  a  good  property  in  the  'valle  de  Copayapo'  from 
whence  he  has  provided  and  provides  all  the  necessities  for  the 
sustenance  of  this  city."  ^° 

At  first  the  grants  of  land  in  the  Copiapo  valley  were  quite 
vague.  Some  titles  gave  the  owners  rights  that  extended  from 
the  sea  to  the  cordillera  or  from  one  quebrada  to  another.  So 
great  was  the  resulting  confusion  that  the  Audiencia  Real  or- 
ganized a  commission  charged  with  the  duty  of  straightening 
out  land  titles  where  claims  conflicted  and  of  fixing  the  limits. 
In  1 712  the  commission  gathered  together  all  the  titles  it  could 
find,  and  various  miscellaneous  papers  as  well,  and  set  definite 
limits  to  the  adjacent  grants. ^"^ 

The  Situation  of  Copiapo 

The  geographical  situation  of  Copiapo  has  given  it  some 
great  natural  advantages.  It  is  in  a  region  of  increasing  rain- 
fall southward,  though  the  annual  precipitation  is  still  ex- 
tremely small.  As  we  have  already  pointed  out  (pp.  47-48) 
this  change  is  coincident  with  a  topographic  change.  Instead 
of  flat-floored  basins  rimmed  by  gently-sloping  alluvium  that 
appears  to  be  flat  in  a  distant  view,  we  have  here  a  broken  or 
accidented  country  that  lies  at  a  higher  elevation  above  the 
sea  and  is  drained  by  a  series  of  wide-branching  tributaries 
taking  their  rise  in  lofty  mountains  (snow-covered  most  of  the 
year)  in  the  main  chain  of  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes.  The 
trails  naturally  follow  the  watercourses  to  a  great  degree,  and 
the  convergence  of  the  wide-spreading  branches  of  the 
Copiapo  River  in  the  cordillera  tends  also  to  converge  the 
trails  upon  the  valley  at  Copiapo. 

Located  in  this  wise,  the  town  attracts  trade  along  the  main 
north-south  valley,  which  is  developed  as  a  true  valley  and  not 
as  a  string  of  basins  in  the  manner  of  the  drainage  basins  of  the 

5"  L.  S.  Lezaeta:  El  conquistador  Francisco  de  Aguirre,  Santiago,  1904. 
"  C.  M.  Sayago:  Historia  de  Copiapo,  Copiapo,  1874,  p.  85.    This  most  interesting 
work  has  been  extensively  used  in  preparation  of  the  section  on  Copiapo. 


io6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

nitrate  desert  on  the  north ;  and  it  tends  also  to  draw  trade  from 
the  coast,  naturally  tributary  to  it,  and  from  transmontane 
Argentina.  In  the  days  of  Aguirre  and  Valdivia,  as  in  the  time 
of  the  Incas  just  before,  Copiapo  was  an  outpost  of  the  con- 
querors' settlement  in  Chile.  When  the  country  farther  south 
became  settled,  Copiapo  continued  to  be  a  great  frontier  town ; 
but  this  time  it  was  a  frontier  facing  north,  toward  the  desert, 
rather  than  a  frontier  that  looked  south  toward  the  richer  land 
that  was  to  become  the  heart  of  Chile  at  a  later  time.  To 
change  its  outlook,  or  orientation,  in  this  manner  was  also  to 
change  its  life;  and  this  happened  again  and  again  not  only 
with  respect  to  its  frontier  position  but  also  with  respect  to  the 
whole  industrial  change  that  overtook  Chile  in  its  national  de- 
velopment. Copper,  nitrate,  the  railway — each  has  meant  a 
complete  and  revolutionary  change  in  the  fortunes  of  Copiapo. 

The  population  of  the  town  changed  rapidly  in  numbers 
with  every  change  of  fortune.  At  one  time  the  Copiapo  district 
counted  over  twenty  thousand  souls  and  Copiapo  was  one  of 
the  busiest  cities  of  South  America.  This  was  at  the  height  of 
the  silver  and  copper  mining,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a 
century  ago.  It  also  enjoyed  prosperity  because  of  its  trade 
with  the  transandean  settlements,  in  what  is  now  northwestern 
Argentina.  A  very  famous  trail  runs  eastward  from  Copiapo 
up  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Jorquera  River;  thence  it  passes 
immediately  south  of  the  peaks  of  San  Francisco  and  reaches 
the  basin  of  Fiambala,  through  which  it  runs  southward  to 
Tinogasta  with  branches  to  Catamarca,  Santiago  del  Estero,  San 
Juan,  and  other  frontier  towns  of  Argentina  (consult  Figure  i). 

Lying  on  the  trails  and  roads  to  the  nitrate  fields  of  the  north 
and  the  center  of  a  great  mining  region,  Copiapo  later  devel- 
oped a  cattle  business  with  the  Argentine.  The  herds  gathered 
at  San  Juan,  Catamarca,  and  Tucuman  are  driven  for  twenty- 
four  or  twenty-five  days  over  the  mountains  and  down  into 
the  valley  of  Copiapo.  The  cattle  are  brought  in  to  the  num- 
ber of  12,000  yearly  and  are  driven  across  the  mountains  from 
September  to  May,  most  of  them  in  May  before  the  passes 
are  closed  with  snow.  They  are  mixed  breeds,  able  to  stand  the 
trying  weather  and  bad  going  of  the  mountain  country.   Upon 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       107 


Fig.  31 


Fig.  32 

Fig.  31 — Central  plaza  at  Copiapo.  The  compact  mass  of  trees  and  shrubs  is 
irrigated  by  water  from  the  Copiapo  River. 

Fig.  32 — Street  scene  in  Copiapo  showing  the  one-storied  houses.  The  tall 
building  on  the  right  at  the  farther  end  of  the  street  is  the  Hotel  de  Atacama, 
one  of  the  two-storied  structures  in  the  city. 


io8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

arriving  they  are  fed  for  several  weeks  or  months  on  green  al- 
falfa and  then  sold  in  remittances  of  a  few  or  many  to  tributary 
mines  and  towns. 

Accustomed  as  we  are  to  the  present  boundaries  between 
Chile  and  Argentina,  it  sounds  strange  to  hear  that  the  north- 
western settlements  of  Argentina  had  their  first  connection 
with  southern  Bolivia  and  desert  Chile.  There  are  two  reasons 
for  this,  the  one  historical,  the  other  geographical.  The  Vice- 
royalty  of  Peru  at  one  time  embraced  most  Spanish  possessions 
south  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  west  of  the  "line  of  de- 
marcation" between  Spain  and  Portugal  in  western  Brazil. 
Lima  became  a  focus  of  commerce  and  authority.  An  old  trade 
route  ran  southwest  of  Lima  to  Abancay,  Cuzco,  La  Paz,  Tu- 
piza,  Salta,  and  Santiago  del  Estero.  It  was  a  part  of  this  route 
that  Almagro  took  on  his  way  to  Copiapo.  We  have  seen  that 
Aguirre  came  down  in  the  same  fashion  rather  than  by  what 
appears  to  be  the  easy  route  of  the  sea  had  there  been  ships  or 
the  materials  for  building  them.  The  first  settlers  came  in  the 
same  way  and  established  themselves  in  fertile  valleys  within 
the  eastern  border  of  the  mountains  or  on  the  edge  of  the  ad- 
jacent plain.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  natural  for  the 
people  of  Copiapo  and  other  towns  farther  south  to  look  to- 
ward the  country  east  of  the  mountains  as  a  field  of  coloniza- 
tion and  settlement.  Though  the  mountains  raised  formidable 
physical  obstacles,  they  had  to  be  overcome  from  the  first. 
What  seems  at  first  sight  a  more  natural  connection  with  La 
Plata  would  then  have  been  an  unnatural  relationship,  for  a 
broad  band  of  plains  country  beyond  the  mountains,  that  is 
east  and  south-east  of  them,  lay  between,  and  it  was  sterile, 
sandy,  desert  waste.  The  transcordilleran  province  of  Cuyo, 
what  is  today  the  provinces  of  San  Juan,  San  Luis,  and  Men- 
doza,  pertained  to  the  government  of  Chile  until  1776.  It  was 
not  until  1778  that  the  Plata  region  could  be  reached  by  sea, 
for  the  agreement  between  Spain  and  Portugal  restricted 
commerce  on  the  Atlantic  to  the  Spanish  possession  of  the 
West  Indies  and  west  of  the  line  of  demarcation  and  permitted 
neither  Spanish  ships  to  seek  ports  nor  colonists  to  seek  fields 
of  settlement  by  way  of  the  South  Atlantic. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       109 

When  railroad  connections  between  the  towns  of  northwest- 
ern Argentina  and  the  Plata  country  had  been  established, 
the  mountain  trails  declined  in  importance.  Trade  from  one 
side  of  the  Andes  to  the  other  became  feeble  and  irregular  and 
was  limited  to  specialized  products,  such  as  wool,  imported 
manufactured  articles,  live  stock  driven  over  the  trail  to  its 
destination,  and  the  like.  This  process,  together  with  the 
drawing  ofT  of  labor  to  more  distant  mining  communities  and 
to  the  nitrate  fields,  has  caused  the  population  of  Copiapo  to 
fluctuate  from  decade  to  decade  by  substantial  amounts.  In 
1865  Copiopo  had  more  than  13,000  people;  in  1875  it  had  less 
than  12,000;  in  1885  less  than  10,000;  and  in  1895  but  9300. 
It  rose  to  nearly  11,000  in  1913  but  declined  again  to  9834 
according  to  the  census  of  1920.  The  estimated  population  on 
January  2,  1922,  was  9797. 

Physical  Basis  of  Life  in  Copiapo 

Not  merely  Copiapo  but  all  the  other  towns  of  Chile  present 
a  singularly  interesting  aspect  of  city  geography.  Outside  a 
few  large  cities,  such  as  Lima  and  La  Paz,  I  have  been  greatly 
struck  everywhere  through  the  Central  Andes,  the  Desert  of 
Atacama,  and  northwestern  Argentina,  with  the  extremely 
close  dependence  of  towns  upon  the  environing  country,  the 
trade  routes,  the  trails,  the  sources  of  water  supply,  and  the 
rural  hamlets.  It  is  a  connection  far  more  intimate  and  sub- 
stantial than  anything  we  see  in  our  country  today,  and  I  can- 
not but  think  that  it  has  had  a  large  effect  upon  the  stability  of 
life  in  the  various  countries  of  Hispanic  America.  Though  rev- 
olutions often  take  their  rise  in  distant  places  far  from  the 
central  seat  of  authority,  it  is  the  large  city  that  has  been  the 
breeding  place  of  most  revolutionary  plans.  Certainly  it  is  the 
place  where  the  revolutionary  power  has  to  be  put  into  effect 
and  where  laws  good  and  bad  originate  to  influence  the  politi- 
cal life,  the  government,  the  foreign  relations,  and  perhaps  the 
foreign  trade  of  the  country.  But  a  revolution  in  Hispanic 
America  is  not  at  all  the  thing  we  have  in  mind  in  speaking  of 
the  French  Revolution  of  more  than  a  century  ago,  or  the 
Russian  Revolution  of  our  time.    In  South  America  it  affects 


no  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

but  a  few  centers,  a  limited  number  of  persons,  a  very  thin 
layer  of  the  people  if  I  may  so  put  it.  For  the  rest,  the  life  of 
the  communities  of  Hispanic  America  goes  on  unaltered  by 
revolutionary  changes.  The  seasons,  the  crops,  trade,  social 
gatherings,  the  community  organization — these  are  the  things 
of  outstanding  importance.  Newspapers  and  letters  do  not 
speedily  convey  information  either  from  the  outside  world  or 
from  distant  places  in  their  own  country;  and  over  most  of 
South  America  the  press  services  are  most  inadequate,  what- 
ever may  rightly  be  said  of  the  extraordinarily  good  services  of 
the  largest  towns  like  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The 
frontier  communities  are  Immeasurably  isolated  and  provin- 
cial, ingrowing,  self-governing,  substantial,  rooted  to  the  soil, 
permanently  related  to  natural  conditions — In  short,  established. 
All  this  Is  reflected  in  the  census  statistics.  Take  the  figures 
from  1865  to  1920  as  given  by  the  Central  Statistics  Bureau 
of  Chile.  We  find  that  there  had  developed  in  that  period  but 
two  towns  of  over  100,000 — Valparaiso  with  182,422  and  San- 
tiago with  507,296 — comparable,  that  is,  with  the  population 
of  Worcester,  Mass.  (179,754)  ^^^  of  San  Francisco  (506,676). 
Of  towns  from  20,000  to  100,000  inhabitants  there  was  but  one 
in  1865.  By  1907  six  of  them  had  developed,  with  a  total  popu- 
lation of  221,000.  Of  towns  with  5000  to  20,000  inhabitants, 
41  had  developed  by  1907;  those  with  1000  to  5000  inhabitants 
numbered  170.  The  total  population  of  these  chief  places  was 
1,408,000  in  1907;  but  of  rural  towns  there  were  4884,  with  a 
total  population  of  1,247,000.  There  are  substantially  5000 
towns,  if  we  count  the  smallest  as  well  as  the  largest  in  all  of 
Chile ;  and  of  these  only  about  fifty  have  a  population  greater 
than  5000,  with  an  aggregate  population  of  1,000,000  in  round 
numbers,  or  about  25  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of  the 
country.  When  we  consider  the  artificial  character  of  many  of 
the  towns,  for  example  the  nitrate  port  of  Antofagasta  with 
32,500  people  in  1907  (51,500  In  1920)  and  of  Iquique  with 
over  40,000  in  1907  (37,400  in  1920)  and  the  importance  of 
mining  carried  on  chiefly  by  foreign  capital  and  enterprise,  we 
can  then  realize  the  close  dependence  of  most  other"  Chilean 
towns  upon  the  soil  and  the  cattle  production  of  the  country. 


.  Geog.  Soc.  Sp.  Publ.  No.  j,  /02j,  Plair  I 


mr 


F'g-  33— Panoramic  view  of  the  city  of  Copiapo,  Chile,  loolcing  south  toward  Paipote.  It  is  situated  near  the  southern  end  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama.  It  is  a  one-storied  town,  spread 
over  about  one  square  mile  of  land  and  with  a  population  of  10,000.  About  it  and  both  up  and  down  valley  are  irrigated  gardens,  fields,  and  pastures.  Its  prosperity  depends  upon  a  few 
wmter  showers,  the  flow  of  the  Copiap6  River,  and  the  exploitation  of  the  mines  in  the  surrounding  mountains. 

Fig.  34— The  upper  valley  of  Copiap6,  above  Paipote,  looking  south.  View  from  the  piazza  of  El  Rancho  Florirla.  The  irrigated  valley  floor  forms  a  strip  of  green  in  the  midst  of  barren 
mountains  and  basins  in  the  Desert  of  .Atacama. 

Fig.  ,35— Panoramic  view  of  Vallenar  in  the  Huasco  valley,  Chile.  At  the  left,  one  is  looking  eastward  up  the  valley:  at  the  right,  southward  across  the  valley.  (These  three  photographs 
were  taken  by  Professor  Bailey  Willis,  on  the  Chilian  Earth(|uake  E.xpedition  of  1923,  Carnegie  Institution,  and  are  reproduced  herewith  by  special  permission.) 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT        iii 

We  can  then  also  realize  the  stability  of  the  natural  life  of  the 
several  communities  of  Chile.  We  speak  now  of  the  economic 
and  social  and  political  life  that  is  domestic  and  not  of  that 
which  has  to  do  with  the  national  government  or  with  inter- 
national affairs  or  with  matters  of  general  policy. 

The  Copiapo-Vallenar  region  lies  on  the  border  between  two 
distinctly  different  regions,  the  one  being  central  Chile,  where 
most  of  the  people  of  Chile  are  found,  the  other  the  nitrate  des- 
ert of  the  north.  Set  between  these  is  the  borderland  region, 
where  the  rains  are  greater  than  in  the  nitrate  desert  but  still 
so  uncertain  as  to  give  a  truly  desert  stamp  to  settlements, 
trails,  communications,  products  and  impose  a  marked  degree 
of  isolation.  From  Copiapo  northward  every  government  offi- 
cial gets  a  certain  percentage  of  his  salary  extra  as  a  "gratifica- 
tion," or  bonus,  because  living  is  more  expensive  than  in  the 
south.  Copiapo  thus  acquires  the  special  character  of  a  fron- 
tier settlement  that  is  at  the  same  time  a  desert  settlement. ^^ 

Nature  and  Organization  of  Desert  Settlements 

Each  populated  desert  valley  is  a  geographical  experiment. 
In  every  one  I  know  there  are  distinctive  features  of  govern- 
ment and  social  organization,  yet  they  are  all  alike  in  that  the 
attention  of  the  entire  community  is  centered  upon  a  single 
feature — the  river,  which  is  vital  to  its  life  and  happiness. 
Even  when  a  railroad  at  last  links  up  such  a  valley  with  the 
rest  of  the  world,  it  is  a  connection  not  marked  by  the  innova- 
tion of  express  trains  and  skyscrapers.  Riding  from  Vallenar 
to  Copiapo  one  takes  a  train  consisting  of  four  cars  and  an 
engine.  One  of  the  cars  is  for  mail  and  express,  the  second  car- 
ries wood,  a  third  water  for  the  engine  and  for  the  dry  stations 
along  the  line,  and  it  is  only  a  fourth  car  that  carries  passengers. 

There  is  a  further  reason  why  the  life  of  a  desert  valley  is  so 
intensely   focused   upon   the   river  that   sustains  the  group. 

52  It  is  the  same  in  the  wet  and  cold  far  south  of  Chile  in  the  Magellan  region,  and 
similar  conditions  exist  in  other  countries  where  extreme  climatic  conditions  are  found 
on  distant  frontiers  of  civilization.  The  scale  for  the  additional  salaries  paid  by  the 
State  to  officials  in  Swedish  Norrland  is  determined  according  to  the  diminishing 
degree  of  light  during  the  dark  period  of  the  year.  (H.  W.  Ahlmann:  The  Economical 
Geography  of  Swedish  Norrland,  Geografiska  Annaler,  Vol.  3,  1921,  pp.  97-164.) 


112  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Practically  all  oasis  settlements  are  small.  Rarely  do  they  ex- 
ceed more  than  a  few  thousand  inhabitants,  and  they  range 
downward  in  size  to  the  smallest  groups  of  a  half  dozen  fam- 
ilies or  a  single  family,  as,  for  example,  at  Monte  la  Soledad  in 
the  nitrate  desert  east  of  Iquique  (see  p.  37).  This  means  that 
there  is  no  superstructure  of  society  or  business  or  professional 
men.  If  there  is  a  doctor  he  may  be  the  only  one  in  the  village 
or  the  valley.  A  few  so-called  lawyers  for  the  drawing  up  of 
legal  papers,  a  few  government  officials,  one  or  two  exception- 
ally "rich"  men — these  complete  the  class  that  furnishes  lead- 
ership in  the  valley.  Their  life  would  be  lonely  and  isolated  if 
it  were  not  merged  in  the  common  life  of  the  community,  as 
indeed  it  is.  The  paraphernalia  of  the  modern  city  is  absent. 
There  is  no  leisure  class,  there  are  no  social  or  economic  para- 
sites. Every  man  is  a  worker,  and  the  most  prosperous  and  the 
most  powerful  politically  or  financially  are  only  a  step  re- 
moved from  the  river  which  is  the  source  of  life  to  all. 

The  self-contained  quality  of  such  a  desert  valley  is  not  one 
that  is  achieved  by  striving.  It  is  assumed  almost  uncon- 
sciously. It  is  interwoven  in  the  traditions  of  the  place.  More 
than  that,  if  the  valley  is  in  Hispanic  America  its  life  springs 
naturally  from  the  traditions  of  the  race  no  less  than  from  the 
geographical  environment.  The  first  Spaniards  who  came  to 
desert  Chile  brought  with  them  a  knowledge  of  the  technic  of 
irrigation.  They  found  established  on  the  spot  a  people  whose 
immemorial  practice  had  been  to  irrigate  the  land  for  agricul- 
ture. For  example  the  Indians  of  the  Copiapo  valley  had  di- 
verted the  river,  had  watered  the  valley  floor  and  the  bordering 
terraces  by  irrigation  canals — in  short,  had  already  established 
themselves  harmoniously  with  nature  before  the  Spaniards 
came. 

The  simpler  life  of  a  desert  community,  its  awareness  of  the 
ultimate  sources  of  its  prosperity,  and  the  absence  of  parasitic 
industries  are  in  striking  contrast  with  the  conditions  that 
obtain  in  a  modern  city,  where  the  machinery  of  life  is  so  com- 
plicated that  the  consumer  is  many  times  removed  from  the 
producer.  In  the  latter  case  there  is  a  dependence  upon  eco- 
nomic and  financial  agencies  whose  workings  are  too  compli- 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT        113 

cated  for  the  mind  of  the  pubHc.  The  consequence  is  that  the 
government  comes  in  and  is  eventually  as  complicated  as  the 
life  it  controls.  We  have  seen  this  in  our  own  time,  and  the 
extent  to  which  the  operations  of  government  are  carried  with 
each  advance  in  industry  and  general  development  is  so  great 
as  to  raise  the  question  whether  government  may  not  become 
so  complicated  that  it  may  break  down.  We  are  not  here  con- 
cerned with  the  question,  non-geographical  in  character,  as  to 
whether  such  a  condition  is  inevitable  or  helpful  or  may  profit- 
ably be  replaced  by  some  other.  We  wish  simply  to  picture  a 
condition  that  brings  about  a  growing  dependence  of  a  whole 
people  on  the  government  when  they  look  to  it  to  manage 
everything  for  them. 

In  no  desert  valley  in  the  world  can  be  found  such  com- 
plicated situations  as  these,  and  yet  the  stringency  of  govern- 
ment is  just  as  great  or  even  greater  in  so  far  as  the  control 
of  the  vital  question  of  water  is  concerned.  In  all  other  mat- 
ters there  is  a  freedom  of  action  on  the  part  of  the  individual 
and  an  absence  of  restraint  in  striking  contrast  to  larger  com- 
munities. 

Taking  Chances  with  the  Rain 

If  Copiapo  had  no  rains  at  all  and  if  it  enjoyed  a  regular 
supply  of  water  from  the  Copiapo  River,  there  would  long  ago 
have  been  an  easy  adjustment  to  natural  conditions  on  the 
part  of  the  population.  That  rains  do  come  occasionally  and 
that  the  river  is  as  capricious  in  its  flow  as  the  mountain 
streams  that  feed  it  are  conditions  that  create  the  chief  in- 
ducement to  gambling  with  nature.  The  year  1914  had  more 
rainfall  than  had  been  known  for  many  years  (27  mm.).  In 
1904  and  1905  there  was  heavy  rainfall,  for  it  rained  six  or 
seven  times  during  the  winter  season  of  May  to  July,  and  a 
rainy  year  is  recorded  if  but  two  or  three  showers  fall  (see 
Table  I,  p.  44).  In  1888  the  first  shower  of  the  year  came  at  the 
end  of  April,  and  a  heavy  shower  on  the  13th  of  August.  Ac- 
cording to  the  history  of  the  weather  bureau  at  Copiapo,  and 
of  the  mining  companies,  the  Copiapo  River  did  not  reach  the 
sea  before  1888  so  far  as  the  records  tell.    Dependent  chiefly 


114  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

upon  mountain  snows,  the  river  comes  down  past  the  town 
each  year  and  may  be  counted  upon  to  water  a  certain  amount 
of  irrigated  land.  The  Rio  Algarrobal  (latitude  28°  S.,  or 
between  Copiapo  and  Vallenar)  last  reached  the  sea  in  1906. 
For  years  it  had  terminated  above  the  pueblo  Algarrobal,  but 
in  the  four  wet  seasons  of  1 902-1 905  inclusive  it  flowed  to  the 
end  of  its  valley. 

When  I  visited  the  Copiapo  valley  in  191 3,  after  an  earlier 
journey  through  the  nitrate  desert  on  the  north,  the  region 
had  suffered  for  several  years  from  one  of  the  most  severe 
droughts  in  history.  The  floor  of  the  river  channel  was  as  dry 
as  the  neighboring  country.  There  were  salt  incrustations  that 
made  white  patches  against  the  brown  and  yellow  of  the  bor- 
dering desert  and  patches  of  dark-green  brush  or  scrub 
gathered  for  firewood;  and  only  as  one  approached  Copiapo 
did  the  cultivated  land  appear,  rich  where  there  was  water  and 
quite  barren  upon  those  tracts  for  which  a  sufficient  supply  of 
water  did  not  exist.  On  every  hand  I  heard  with  what  diffi- 
culty enough  water  was  secured  to  keep  the  alfalfa  meadows 
from  drying  up  and  the  cattle  from  starvation. 

Though  there  is  more  water  at  Vallenar,  in  the  Huasco 
valley  100  miles  south  of  Copiapo,  the  same  complaints  were 
made  there.  It  was  predicted  that  rain  would  surely  fall, 
because  no  rain  had  fallen  for  three  years  in  succession.  One 
day  great  masses  of  black  clouds  came  rolling  up  from  the 
south,  rain  was  confidently  predicted,  and  telegrams  were  sent 
to  absent  owners  at  Santiago.  It  was  a  novel  experience  to  find 
water  so  important  that  messages  are  sent  whenever  it  looks 
as  if  it  might  rain !  But  the  clouds  dissolved  in  the  late  after- 
noon, and  I  was  disappointed  on  leaving  to  have  missed  a 
rainstorm  in  famous  old  Vallenar,  At  the  suggestion  of  one  of 
my  hosts  I  left  my  future  address,  so  that  he  might  telegraph 
me  news  of  the  first  rain! 

A  single  heavy  shower  benefits  pastures  and  fields  and 
brightens  the  outlook  of  hundreds  of  people.  Two  showers 
bring  a  year  of  plenty,  and  three  or  more  showers  make  the 
year  memorable,  if  indeed  they  do  not  bring  floods  and  greater 
disaster  than  several  years  of  drought. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       115 

Floods  of  Desert  Basins 

The  floods  of  a  desert  basin  that  is  self-contained  are  Hmited 
in  size  and  in  devastating  effect  because  the  watershed  is  lim- 
ited. In  a  desert  country  there  are  as  many  separate  floods  as 
there  are  separate  basins.  When  the  basins  coalesce,  however, 
it  is  the  sum  of  all  the  floods  that  reaches  the  main  valley. 
Not  merely  this,  the  run-off  in  such  cases  is  much  more  rapid 
because  there  is  a  succession  of  channels  down  to  the  main 
through-flowing  stream  rather  than  a  series  of  bordering  allu- 
vial flats  into  which  all  the  floods  may  readily  sink. 

It  is  precisely  this  condition  which  is  encountered  in  the 
Andes  in  the  region  of  Copiapo  (cf.  pp.  47-48).  The  rainfall  of 
the  high  mountain  zone  is  sufficient  to  bring  about  a  normal 
organization  of  stream  courses  on  both  sides  of  the  Andes,  and 
instead  of  the  interior  basins  of  northwestern  Argentina,  south- 
western Bolivia,  and  northern  Chile  we  have  here  wide-branch- 
ing tributaries  and  streams  that  flow  through  to  the  sea  (Fig. 
86).  The  relation  of  such  an  organized  drainage  system  to 
floods  is  not  merely  of  technical  interest;  it  is  immensely  im- 
portant to  the  people  who  live  in  the  valley  below. 

Naturally  a  more  constant  stream  like  the  Copiapo  River 
calls  into  being  a  larger  settlement,  and  In  general  we  find  that 
streams  and  settlements  in  desert  regions  are  proportionate 
in  size  to  each  other.  This  means  that  If  damage  is  done  be- 
cause of  the  great  floods  that  come  down  the  Copiapo  valley, 
or  any  valley  so  situated  In  relation  to  the  snows  and  rains  of  a 
high  mountain  belt,  it  will  be  on  a  far  larger  scale  than  in  the 
ravines  on  the  drier  western  mountain  border  and  interior 
basins  of  northern  Chile. 

It  is  the  fate  of  desert  communities  that  they  should  be 
devastated  by  the  same  agent  to  whose  gentler  operations 
they  look  with  such  delight.  To  take  a  specific  example,  on 
May  21,  1905,  snowstorms  raged  in  the  Cordillera,  and  the 
Copiapo  River  rose  "enormously,"  doing  no  end  of  damage 
throughout  the  whole  middle  and  lower  valley,  cutting  the  rail- 
road below  Copiapo,  and  sweeping  away  a  bridge.  Alfalfa 
fields  were  filled  with  mud  and  clay,  tracks  and  roads  were 


ii6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

washed  away,  and  traffic  was  quite  suspended.  The  thick 
muddy  water  came  pouring  down  the  valley,  modifying  all  the 
meander  turns  and  having  regard  for  neither  fields  nor  houses, 
both  of  which  were  greatly  damaged  in  Copiapo.  On  July  14  of 
the  same  year  severe  rains  followed,  the  storm  lasting  ten 
hours.  A  cart  road  was  destroyed ;  the  Chanaral  railroad  was 
washed  out,  and  it  was  months  before  the  service  could  be  re- 
stored. Not  only  the  higher  mountains  but  the  foothills  were 
covered  with  snow  to  so  low  a  level  that  no  one  was  able  to 
recollect  a  similar  occurrence.  With  the  snow  and  rain  the 
river  continued  to  rise  even  into  September.  In  October  the 
railway  from  Copiapo  to  Caldera  was  broken,  and  it  required 
a  month  to  re-open  the  line ;  for  the  nature  of  the  flood  required 
a  new  course  to  be  found  to  escape  a  renewal  of  the  disaster. 
At  a  time  when  it  was  particularly  needed  the  community  was 
without  a  vital  service.  The  break  in  the  line  found  Copiapo 
supplied  with  flour  enough  to  last  for  only  eighteen  days. 
The  vineyards  and  fields  were  ruined,  a  covering  of  mud  was 
laid  upon  the  barley  and  alfalfa  fields  so  that  the  growth  of 
these  crops  was  stopped,  and  the  mud,  baking  under  the  desert 
sun,  made  cultivation  difficult.  Even  the  mails  became  ir- 
regular owning  to  the  scarcity  of  animals,  because  the  mer- 
chants had  taken  all  the  available  animals  in  order  to  convey 
their  merchandise.  Barley  and  forage  rose  to  famine  prices  and 
were  almost  unobtainable.  Labor  became  scarce,  the  coal 
question  serious,  and  during  this  time  of  stress  and  want  the 
river  still  continued  to  harass  the  fields  and  houses  within 
reach  so  that  the  end  of  the  disaster  was  still  in  doubt  and 
every  mind  was  filled  with  anxiety. 

The  floods  continued  into  December  with  greater  increase 
of  water.  The  irrigating  canals  were  cut  off  or  sediment  was 
deposited  in  them  with  the  consequence  that  the  full  force  of 
the  water  acted  upon  the  valley.  At  length  defenses  of  wood 
and  bags  of  sand  were  laid  in  place ;  but  these  were  torn  away, 
and  corrals  and  houses  tumbled  into  the  river  at  Tierra  Ama- 
rilla  above  Copiapo.  It  was  necessary  to  call  on  troops  sta- 
tioned in  the  town  to  repair  and  strengthen  the  dike,  and  their 
work  was  hurried  by  news  from  up  river  that  twenty  houses 


I 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       117 

were  destroyed.  Mines  were  shut  down  because  of  lack  of  pro- 
visions, fodder,  and  labor.  With  roads  washed  out,  fuel  and 
vegetables  could  not  be  brought  down  valley,  and  prices  rose 
even  higher.  By  January  2,  1906,  there  had  been  such  an 
enormous  increase  of  water,  owing  to  the  unusually  hot 
weather  in  the  cordillera,  that  half  of  Tierra  Amarilla  was 
swept  away.  The  government  sent  a  company  of  troops  and 
hydraulic  engineers  from  the  Public  Works  Department,  and 
only  by  their  combined  efforts  and  the  work  of  the  citizens  was 
the  lower  part  of  Copiapo  saved.  A  mile  and  a  half  of  flood- 
plain  margin  was  torn  away  between  Tierra  Amarilla  and  Co- 
piapo. Hundreds  were  rendered  homeless,  and  others  obliged 
to  live  in  hastily-made  shanties  on  higher  ground  at  the  border 
of  the  valley.  Under  these  circumstances  the  government  was 
called  upon  to  send  relief  to  the  sufferers;  and  this,  together 
with  money  collected  from  the  citizens,  put  the  town  in  order 
again.  In  addition  the  government  granted  $400,000  for  the 
construction  of  new  roads  with  power  to  expropriate  the  pri- 
vate lines. 

When  the  rain  fell  not  too  rapidly  but  just  at  the  rate  at 
which  the  soil  could  absorb  it,  as  in  May,  1851,  it  was  a  matter 
of  observation  in  a  letter  of  the  mine  managers  of  Copiapo  to 
their  English  owners;  and  if  cloudy  weather  followed,  thus 
slowing  up  the  rate  of  evaporation,  it  was  likewise  a  matter  of 
comment,  just  as  in  Greek  agriculture  when  Hesiod  commends 
the  rain  that  falls  so  that  the  water  stands  at  the  level  of 
the  hoofs  of  the  oxen,  neither  more  nor  less. 

Dependence  on  the  Rains 

The  two  elements  of  greatest  importance  in  the  study  of  the 
relation  of  the  people  to  water  supply  in  this  border  region  are 
the  local  showers  and  the  distant  mountain  snows.  The  show- 
ers are  nature's  gift  to  poor  and  rich  alike;  the  snows,  melting, 
discharge  by  way  of  rivers,  and  river  water  can  be  used  only  by 
the  landowner  who  lives  on  the  valley  floor.  Furthermore,  the 
larger  the  estate  the  more  water  it  is  entitled  to  use ;  hence  a 
greater  disparity  between  the  financial  condition  of  the  small 


ii8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  the  large  landowners  in  years  of  low  water.  The  resources 
of  the  rich  enable  them  to  weather  the  temporary  difficulties 
which  years  of  drought  inevitably  bring.  By  contrast,  the 
poor  landowner  may  be  forced  to  sell  his  farm  and  stock  at 
just  the  time  when  they  bring  least.  To  him  the  droughts  may 
mean  not  only  distress  but  ruin. 

In  earlier  years,  when  there  was  a  purely  local  market  for 
farm  products,  the  rains  were  not  an  unmixed  blessing.  The 
owners  of  hired  troops  of  mules,  the  cattle  importer,  and  the 
miner  were  all  benefited,  since  their  stock  found  free  forage. 
But  the  landowner  who  made  a  business  of  renting  pasture  or 
selling  hay  found  his  income  reduced,  because  the  lower  prices 
of  wetter  years  more  than  offset  the  greater  product.  Since  the 
prices  of  all  merchandise  were  largely  controlled,  in  the  pre- 
railroad  days  (before  1851),  by  the  rate  of  transport  from  the 
coast  ports,  and  this  in  turn  by  the  abundance  of  free  pasture 
and  the  price  of  hay,  the  wet  years  always  carried  the  advan- 
tage of  cheaper  goods,  and  this  advantage  was  shared  by  all. 
Those  who  had  forage  to  sell,  therefore,  gained  most  in  years 
of  moderate  dryness,  when  there  was  neither  free  pasture 
nor  abundance  of  water  for  irrigation. 

At  the  present  time  the  nitrate  industry  alters  this  condi- 
tion. Its  steady  demand  upon  the  alfalfa  meadows  for  the 
thousands  of  mules  that  are  required  for  the  caliche  carts 
maintains  the  prices  at  a  higher  level,  and  most  years  of  rain 
are  now  marked  by  a  much  higher  level  of  prosperity  for  the 
landed  proprietors.  This  in  turn  helps  the  poor  laborer,  the 
vagrant  shepherd,  and  the  small  landowner  who  In  former 
times  was  often  pushed  to  the  wall.  Life  has  therefore  become 
easier  and  safer ;  the  former  waste  in  years  of  rain  and  the  dis- 
tress in  years  of  drought  have  been  displaced  by  organized 
commerce  in  response  to  the  steady  market  at  the  nitrate 
works  of  the  desert.  But  the  people  have  not  in  any  sense 
lessened  their  dependence  upon  the  rains.  In  fact,  they  have 
greatly  increased  it.  A  new  industry  and  the  general  organiza- 
tion of  commerce  in  which  the  railroad  plays  a  large  part  have 
merely  turned  their  dependence  Into  new  channels. 
V  In  the  wet  years,  Imported  cattle  from  Argentina  winter  in 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       119 

the  hills  and  are  driven  down  to  the  valleys  ready  for  the  mar- 
ket. In  dry  years  they  arrive  lean  and  weak  after  their  long 
journey  across  the  lofty  desert  mountains  and  must  be  fed  on 
rented  pasture  In  the  alfalfa  meadows  of  the  valley  ranches. 
When  dry  years  occur  In  succession  the  prices  of  forage  may 
rise  faster  than  the  prices  of  meat,  since  the  owner's  draught 
animals  are  his  first  care.  As  a  result  the  drovers  stop  their 
Importations,  for  with  rising  prices  the  small  buyer  who  Is  con- 
tinually becoming  poorer  at  last  Is  unable  to  buy  meat  at  all. 
If  the  dry  period  continues,  mules  may  be  driven  from  Chile 
Into  Argentina,  there  to  winter  on  cheaper  pasture  until  the 
return  of  normal  conditions  In  the  desert. 

Formerly  the  mining  industry  (described  In  detail  in  a  suc- 
ceeding chapter)  absorbed  not  only  the  chief  part  of  men's 
energies  in  the  Copiapo  region  but  also  most  of  the  products. 
Cattle  were  then  Imported  from  Argentina  for  the  mines,  just 
as  they  are  now  imported  for  both  the  mines  and  the  nitrate 
fields  farther  north.  Great  troops  of  hired  mules  were  em- 
ployed by  the  mine  owners  to  carry  copper  and  silver  ores  to 
the  coast  ports.  Both  mules  and  cattle  had  to  find  subsistence 
In  part  on  the  desert  upland,  where  short  grasses  spring  up 
after  the  winter  rains.  In  the  history  of  the  mines  there  are 
many  instances  of  distress  owing  to  the  poor  state  of  the  pas- 
tures. Exploring  expeditions  were  early  sent  out  to  discover 
new  routes  along  valleys  where  showers  had  been  reported  by 
travelers,  and  In  at  least  one  instance  a  new  route  led  to  the  de- 
velopment of  a  new  port  as  short-lived  as  the  pastures  to  which 
it  owed  Its  origin.  When  a  period  of  dry  years  set  in,  all  trans- 
portation had  to  be  stopped,  the  ore  accumulated  at  the  mines, 
and  chartered  ships  were  sent  back  to  Swansea  either  empty  or 
half  loaded.  Thus  Chilean  mining  company  dividends  were 
passed  more  than  once  at  London  because  of  the  lack  of  a  few 
showers  in  Chile. 

The  Struggle  for  Water:  The  Law  of  the  Turno 

It  Is  the  way  of  men  everywhere  to  form  stringent  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  social  group  and  to  put  Into  force  a  special 


120  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

regime  when  face  to  face  with  disaster.  We  are  led  to  think 
of  a  desert  valley  that  has  twelve  thousand  people,  dependent 
to  a  great  extent  upon  mining,  and  normally  supporting  four 
thousand  people  through  irrigation  alone,  as  living  in  a  state 
of  tension.  Even  after  railroads  have  been  built  and  life  is 
organized  as  now,  the  rains  and  the  floods  cause  so  violent  a 
shock  to  the  economic  structure  of  the  valley  that  social  and 
political  changes  immediately  occur  calling  for  emergency 
measures  quickly  and  rigorously  applied. 

If  the  traveler  come  to  such  a  valley  in  the  midst  of  a 
drought,  calamity  seems  scarcely  to  be  afoot.  The  life  is  quiet, 
even  quieter  than  usual,  in  spite  of  the  general  anxiety,  though 
if  one  knows  where  to  look  and  how  to  inquire  he  is  aware  of 
the  rigorous  application  of  a  law  to  the  execution  of  which  the 
government  bends  every  effort.  This  is  the  law  of  the  turno. 
It  means  that  each  man  must  take  his  turn  in  drawing  off  wa- 
ter from  the  river  for  the  irrigating  canals  that  supply  his  fields. 
The  hour  in  which  he  may  open  the  head  of  his  main  feed  canal 
is  indicated,  and  the  number  of  hours  that  he  may  take  water 
from  the  river  is  explicitly  stated.  He  must  then  close  his  canal 
and  wait  for  his  next  turn.  The  length  of  time  that  elapses 
between  turns  is  dependent  upon  the  flow  of  the  river.  All 
the  people  of  the  valley  must  share  in  the  general  distribution 
of  water.  If  those  down  the  valley  receive  no  flow  at  all  they 
make  due  complaints  to  the  authorities,  and  there  may  follow 
a  readjustment  of  the  turno. 

An  irrigated  valley  thus  becomes  a  social  unit  operating 
under  a  system  far  more  rigorous  than  that  which  obtains  even 
in  the  crowded  city.  The  application  of  the  turno  to  the  water 
is  like  the  traffic  policeman's  signal  to  a  line  of  vehicles,  and, 
just  as  the  violation  of  the  policeman's  signal  is  considered  to 
be  the  chief  offense  of  a  driver,  so  the  violation  of  the  turno  is 
the  chief  offense  of  the  farmer.  The  greed  of  one  person  here  in 
a  very  direct  way  means  loss  to  a  neighbor;  and  it  is  a  loss 
that  amounts  to  theft,  for  the  one  who  takes  more  water  than 
is  his  right  is  taking  that  which  the  law  has  already  decreed 
should  belong  to  his  neighbor.  It  is  really  a  communal  organ- 
ization in  which  individual  ownership  of  property  in  water 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       121 

is  unknown.  The  river  and  its  water  supply  belong  to  the 
community;  whatever  the  river  does  is  the  concern  of  the 
whole  community.  But  for  the  river  there  would  be  no  com- 
munity. Under  these  circumstances  if  government  means 
anything  it  means  the  care  of  the  river,  which  is  the  source  of 
life.  As  a  result  there  is  a  state  of  potential  anxiety  almost 
constantly.  As  a  further  result  measures  are  devised  for  the 
control  of  all  activities  that  bear  upon  the  river.  The  govern- 
ment is  ready  to  step  in  at  any  moment  and  exercise  its  right 
to  act  for  the  general  good.  It  is  as  if  a  city  like  San  Francisco, 
having  suffered  from  earthquake  and  fire  because  it  lies  in  a 
belt  that  is  subject  to  earthquakes,  should  organize  the  ma- 
chinery of  government  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  for  the  com- 
ing into  force  of  special  laws  and  the  organizing  of  a  special 
police  to  meet  the  emergency  conditions  that  might  arise 
should  another  earthquake  take  place. 

While  the  turno  in  one  form  or  another  is  a  subject  for 
almost  yearly  consideration,  there  is  more  than  one  historical 
example  of  quite  special  interest  owing  to  severe  drought.  We 
may  take  the  case  of  1877  for  detailed  examination.  The 
extent  of  irrigated  land  at  Copiapo  is  from  4000  to  5000  cua- 
dras,  a  cuadra  being  125  meters  square;  and  it  runs  in  narrow 
tracts  on  both  sides  of  the  river  from  75  miles  up  valley  and 
from  10  to  15  miles  down  valley.  I  traversed  the  valley  to 
see  under  what  conditions  water  was  distributed,  talked  with 
members  of  the  city  administration  regarding  the  legal  aspects 
of  the  use  of  the  water,  and  from  one  of  the  mining  companies 
obtained  two  striking  documents  bearing  the  seal  of  the 
"Municipalidad  de  Copiapo."  The  texts  are  reproduced  pho- 
tographically herewith  (pp.  124,  126).  The  first,  that  bears  the 
signatures  of  the  proper  city  authorities,  is  dated  March  27, 
1877 ;  the  second  is  dated  May  2  of  the  same  year.  They  enable 
one  to  obtain  an  intimate  view  of  the  workings  of  the  law  of  the 
turno.  The  first  one  states  that  there  is  appointed  a  commis- 
sion of  alcaldes  to  meet  in  those  parts  of  the  valley  most  in- 
terested in  irrigation  for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  law  of  the 
turno  in  order  to  avoid  the  many  difficulties  and  embarrass- 
ments into  which  the  people  of  the  valley  have  fallen  and  the 


122  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

insecurity  that  they  feel  in  the  present  system  of  water  distri- 
bution. Provision  is  made  for  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  the 
various  irrigated  districts  in  the  valley  and  for  alternate  repre- 
sentation in  case  a  proprietor  or  tenant  is  unable  to  attend. 
Voting  is  proportional  to  the  size  of  an  estate  and  the  "hours 
of  water"  which  correspond  thereunto.  Proprietors  of  small 
patches  of  land  are  permitted  to  consolidate  their  votes  in 
order  to  obtain  representation. 

The  second  document  is  a  report  approved  by  the  delegates 
named  for  the  general  meeting,  a  report  that  is  designed  to 
change  the  law  of  the  turno  in  the  Copiapo  valley.  The  first 
part  has  to  do  with  losses  in  time  sustained  through  delay  in 
the  arrival  of  the  water  from  up  valley  owing  to  seepage  and 
the  natural  time  it  takes  for  upstream  water  to  reach  a  point 
downstream  when  the  river  bed  is  dry  and  must  be  filled  before 
a  flow  begins.  The  second  part  establishes  conditions  for  the 
taking  of  water.  Four  periods  are  established  in  which  to 
calculate  the  loss  of  each  district:  the  turno  of  January  i, 
that  of  April  i,  that  of  July  i,  and  that  of  October  i.  All 
persons  using  an  irrigating  ditch  are  under  obligation  after 
taking  out  their  share  to  leave  the  inlet  blocked  ofi^,  under 
penalty  of  a  fine  of  ten  pesos  for  each  offense.  All  industrial 
establishments  are  to  take  water  for  the  operation  of  their 
machinery  when  the  flow  from  the  city  reaches  the  district  in 
which  they  are  located  and  must  well  secure  the  inlets  and 
commit  no  abuse,  under  pain  of  a  fine  similar  to  that  indicated 
above.  Attention  is  called  to  the  lack  of  a  law  for  the  use  of 
the  water  in  industrial  establishments  of  the  valley  and  at  the 
railroad  stations;  and  to  the  need  of  "repairs"  to  the  river  bed 
itself  in  order  presumably  to  conserve  the  flow.  Especially 
significant  is  Article  6,  which  proposes  that  the  change  inau- 
gurated by  the  resolution  in  question  should  be  for  one  year 
by  way  of  experiment,  with  the  implication  that  abuses  or 
defects  would  be  remedied  by  new  measures. 

The  procedure  which  these  two  documents  indicate  must  be 
repeated  whenever  the  disposition  of  the  cultivated  land  or 
increase  and  decrease  of  the  inhabitants  or  changes  brought 
about  by  floods  have  so  altered  the  irrigated  land  in  relation 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       123 

to  the  ditches  and  the  river  as  to  make  the  established  distri- 
bution of  water  unfair.  When  a  man  organizes  a  farm,  that  is 
clears  it  of  brush  and  digs  a  ditch  to  it,  he  inquires  of  the 
"judge  of  water,"  a  special  official  whose  business  it  is  to  look 
after  water  disputes,  as  to  how  much  water  he  may  take  and 
obtains  a  decision.  In  good  years  each  farmer  may  take  as 
much  as  he  likes;  but  when  the  river  is  low  the  judge  of  water 
has  to  settle  a  host  of  cases,  for  disputes  are  of  almost  daily 
occurrence.  Feuds  arise  and  grow  the  more  bitter,  because 
the  valley  is  restricted  in  population  and  because  families 
are  intimately  related  by  village  or  social  groups  scattered  up 
and  down  the  valley.  The  quarrel  of  one  thus  becomes  the 
quarrel  of  the  group  to  which  he  belongs. 

Said  the  manager  of  one  of  the  mining  companies  at  Co- 
piapo  in  1838,  a  year  of  particularly  severe  drought:  "It  would 
be  difficult  for  any  one  who  has  not  experienced  it  to  believe  in 
the  robbery  and  quarreling  constantly  on  foot  with  respect 
to  rations  of  water  in  this  extraordinary  and  desert  district, 
along  the  whole  course  of  the  valley  from  the  town  to  the 
Cordillera,  a  distance  of  ninety  miles — all  the  lands  being 
dependent  for  irrigation  upon  a  little  contemptible  stream  of 
water  whose  volume  at  any  one  point  is  barely  sufficient  to  fill 
the  weir  of  an  ordinary  flour  mill. 

"Notwithstanding  the  regulations  that  have  been  made  by 
the  authorities — and  heavy  fines  imposed  on  infringements — 
such  are  the  difficulties  of  proof  and  such  the  localities  of  the 
district  that  abuses  can  be  practiced  with  impunity.   ..." 

On  more  than  one  occasion  I  got  myself  into  an  embarrassing 
position  on  account  of  seemingly  harmless  questions  about 
water  rights.  I  soon  found  that  a  social  guide  was  needed — 
one  who  could  tell  me  who  were  friends  and  who  were  enemies. 
At  times  it  was  necessary  to  exercise  great  care  in  receiving 
various  officials  and  townspeople  who  were  kind  enough  to 
call  upon  me,  lest  there  should  be  formed  an  uncongenial 
group.  It  would  be  difficult  for  A  to  join  B  in  polite  explana- 
tions when  A's  servant  had  but  lately  broken  B's  servant's 
head.  B  would  not  feel  nearly  so  badly  about  the  broken  head 
as  about  the  alfalfa  field  that  would  now  be  ruined  on  account 


124 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


fe- 


■V-'^ 


"t'upwpv. 


rzr^^/TIe  lS77. 


una   jnedida  jaatay    equitativa   que  pudicra    dar  fin  a  laa 
etido,  80  constituyeron  en  seeion  ei  dia  21  del  actnal  y  celc- 


La  Ilustrc  Municipalidad  dc  Copiapu  en  sesion  estraordiiiaria  de  H  del  prcseiitc,  acordu  uombrar  eii  coiuiaion 
■a,  lo3  sefiores  alcaldes  para  que  sc  sirvieran  convocar  a  una  reunion  s  loa  vecioos  del  valle  iuteresados  en  el  riego, 
con  el  fin  de  tomar  las  medidaa  que  fueren  mas  oportunas  para  {rtimbiar  el  ord<n  de  lo3  tnmoa  en  el  regadio.y  ha- 
cerlo,  si  posible  faere,  de  abajo  para  arriba,  porque  se  hizo  presente,  por  el  3caor  latendcnte,  que  tratahdo  de 
'mejorar  el  actual  sistema  que  se  tiene  en  pr^ctica  de  salrar  las  numero^as  dificultadea  que  se  preeentan  y  diegustos 
que  nacen  de  hacer  efectivoel  derecho  de  oada  cual,  y  pabor  eon  entera  seguridad  quienea  aon  aquellos  que  Tcrda- 
•deramente  faltan,  habia  conferenciado  con  algunos  interegadoa,  con  el  celador  -mayor  de  aguas  y  otras  p«rsona8  cobo- 
■cedoraa  de  lo  que  al  preoente  pasa,  sobre  la  conveniencia  que  Tesultaria  si  se  adoptaae  el  eistema  de  regar  de  abajo 
ipara  arfiba  y  que  por  todos  habia  sido  aprobada 
'CueaHon^^  qa«  diariamente  se  suscitan. 

Loa  BSliores  alcaldes,  dando  cumplimiento  a 
ibrafon  loa  sigujentes  acuerdoa: 

]  ®  Para  Ilevar  a  efecto  el  acnerdo  municipal  dc  5  del  prcscnto  mes,  la  comision  acnerda  peJira  lossenores 
lobdalegados  del  Tallc  se  sirvan  convocar  a  todos  los  intere«ados  en  el  riego  a  una  reunion  que  tcndra  higar  ante 
elloB  para  proceder  a  nombrar  delegados  por  cada  uno  de  Ion  distritos  regadores,  para  que  estoo,  de  acuerdo  con 
la  comiaion  muniripal,  f  :>cedaua  discutir  y  adoptar  las  medidas  que  facrcDTnas  oportunas  para  cambiar  el  actual 
iistema  de  turnoB  y  hat  .tIo  de  abaju  para  arriba,  previni^ndoles  que  en  aquellas  subdclegaciones  en  ({ue  hubierc 
■mas  de  uu  diatrito  regader  los  inspectorea  aeran  loa  que  dirijiran  la  reauion,  tcniendo  siempre  especial  cuidado  de 
■quo  ningim  diatrito  quede  mn  repreaentantc,  y  que  todo  cuanto  se  acorJase  en  la  reuninn  o  reunionea  de  los  delega- 
■dos  COD  Io8  comisionadoa  monicipales,  -sera  somctido  a  la  aprobaciou  de  los  propietarioa  o  arrendatarios  de  fuiidos 
•una  vez  terminado  cl  trabajo  j  nunca  podra  llevaree  a  efecto  sin  babcr  obteuido  katea  au  asentimiento. 

2-  ®  La  reunion  para  la  eleccion  de  loa  delegados  tcndra  lugar  eil  la  forma  indicada,  el  -dia  16  dc  abril  del  prc- 
senlc  afio  a  la  1  p.  m. 

3   ^    Aquellos  propietarios  o  arren  latarioi  que  no   pudiercii 
por  medio  de  apoderadoa,  o  bieu  rcmitiendo  su  voto  por  eacrito. 

4-  °   En  la  xeunioa  para  elejir  delegados,  cada  propietavio  o 
fueren  las  boras  de  agaa  que  le  correspondcn. 

5.  °   Los  propietarioa  de  fundoa  pequeSoa  podran  reunir  fcusvotoc  con  el  fin  indicado  eu  el  precedente  acuerdo. 

6.  *  Eq  la  ciudfld  la  reunion  para  la  eleccion  de  delegados  tendri  lugar  el  dia  y  hora  indicados,  wi  la  sala  mu- 
nicipal y  ante  la  comlaion  nombrada. 

7.  °    Lb  primera  reunion  de  los  oomiaionados  municipales  con  los  delegados,    tcndra  Ingar  el  29  de  abril  jiruii- 
>  entrante  a  la  I  p.  m.  en  la  sala  mnnitlpal^ 


r  peraonalmente  podran    LacLTlo, 
cndatario  do  fuudij,  tendra  tautoa  votos  ci 


Senor: 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       125 

Copiapo,  March  27,  1877 


The  Illustrious  Municipality  of  Copiapo,  in  extraordinary  session  on  the 
5th  instant,  resolved  to  appoint  the  mayors  as  a  commission  with  instructions 
to  call  a  meeting  of  those  residents  of  the  valley  who  have  interests  in  the 
irrigation  system,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  proper  steps  toward  changing 
the  order  of  rotation  in  the  use  of  the  water,  and,  if  possible,  to  make  the 
rotation  in  upstream  order:  inasmuch  as  the  Intendente  has  pointed  out 
that,  in  an  effort  to  improve  the  present  system  so  as  to  avoid  the  numerous 
difficulties  that  are  encountered  and  the  unpleasantnesses  which  spring  from 
the  attempt  to  secure  each  irrigator's  rights  and  to  know  with  certainty 
those  who  truly  lack  water,  he  had  conferred  with  some  of  those  interested, 
with  the  chief  water  master,  and  with  other  persons  familiar  with  the  present 
situation,  regarding  the  advisability  of  adopting  an  upstreamward  order  of 
rotation,  and  that  all  had  approved  the  plan  as  a  just  and  equitable  one  which 
might  be  expected  to  put  an  end  to  the  difficulties  that  were  daily  being 
presented. 

The  mayors,  carrying  out  their  instructions,  met  in  session  the  21st  of  the 
present  month  and  adopted  the  following  resolutions: 

1.  In  order  to  carry  out  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Municipality  on 
the  5th  of  the  present  month,  the  Commission  resolves  to  ask  the  representa- 
tives of  the  siihdelegaciones  of  the  valley  to  call  together  all  those  persons  who 
have  interests  in  the  irrigation  system,  for  a  meeting  to  be  held  before  them 
[the  above  representatives]  for  the  purpose  of  naming  delegates  from  each 
one  of  the  irrigation  districts,  who,  with  the  approval  of  the  municipal  com- 
mission, should  proceed  to  discuss  and  adopt  appropriate  measures  for  al- 
tering the  present  system  of  rotation  and  making  it  in  upstreamward  order; 
advising  them  that  in  those  suhdelegaciones  in  which  there  are  more  than 
one  irrigation  district,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  inspectors  to  direct  the 
meeting;  great  care  being  exercised  also  that  no  district  be  without  a  delegate, 
and  that  everything  done  in  the  meeting  or  meetings  of  the  delegates  with 
the  municipal  commissioners  be  submitted  for  the  approval  of  the  proprietors 
or  renters  of  farms  as  soon  as  it  has  been  agreed  upon,  and  that  no  measure 
be  put  into  effect  without  having  obtained  their  consent. 

2.  The  meeting  for  election  of  the  delegates  shall  be  held  in  the  form  indi- 
cated and  upon  the  15th  of  April  of  the  present  year  at  i  o'clock  p.  M. 

3.  Those  proprietors  or  renters  who  are  unable  to  attend  personally  may 
do  so  either  by  proxy  or  by  sending  their  votes  in  written  form. 

4.  In  the  meeting  to  elect  delegates,  each  proprietor  or  renter  shall  have 
the  number  of  votes  corresponding  to  the  number  of  hours  in  which  he  has 
the  use  of  water. 

5.  The  proprietors  of  small  farms  may  combine  their  votes  for  the  purpose 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  resolution. 

6.  In  the  city  the  meeting  for  the  election  of  delegates  shall  be  held  the 
day  and  hour  indicated  above,  in  the  municipal  hall  and  in  presence  of  the 
appointed  Commission. 

7.  The  first  meeting  of  the  municipal  Commissioners  with  the  delegates 
shall  be  held  on  the  29th  of  the  coming  April  at  I  o'clock  in  the  municipal 
hall.* 

*The  translation  of  this  and  the  following  document  is  by  Dr.  George  M.  McBride. 


126  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

ACUERDO 

aprobado  ppr  los    delegados  norr\brado3 

para  efectuar  el   cambio    en   el  6rden  de  los    turno.s 

del  rieero   del  Valle, 


"Ell  Copiapti,  a  das  dias  del  mes  do  Mujro  de  rail  ucliocicntos  scteuta  y  siete,  reiinida  la 
cotninidn  <itie  susinibe,  nonibrada  porlos  seaorus  delej;ado6  de  los  distritos  regadoioa  del  valU-, 
pnra  ibrmidar  lire  lu-oyacto  para  cl  cambio  de!  actual  sisteina  de  riegi);  hallandi.se  presentc  .el 
celador  mayor  de  ajiias,  duspiiesde  nn  detciiido  examen  de  las  rarones  dadas  porel,  cree  ad- 
misible  y  pi-opoue  a  loa  dclegadus  y  pi-opictanos  del,  valle,  el  siguiente  projector 

En  atencion  quo  de  todoa  los  distritos  solo  cl  primero  7  el  tercefo  son  los  liincos  (pic  to- 
man el  aifiia  en  sus  [iropias  tomas  a  la  hora  que  lea  perteneca  sin  sufi-ir  la  menor  perdida  por 
ti-aerla  del  Jietrite  superior  inmediato  y  teniendo  ademas  presentc  que  todos  los  aeinas  distritos 
tienen  de  esa  dotacioii  de  afruas  tierto  numero  de  boras  iiominalas  que  son  las  (pie  pierden  en 
tonducirlo  del  distrito  anterior,  opina  la  comision  que  dando  cadadistrito  para  el  lleno  del  rio 
el  niimero  de  boras  nominales  que  tenga  y  ademas  una  parte  proporcional  para  cl  avaliio  que  se 
Laga  de  las  boras  de  la  eortada  de  la  ciudad  y  que  recibiendo  el  resto,  mas  la  cortada  del  dis- 
trito superior  inmediato,  se  eolocan  en  la  misma  situacion  que  los  distritos  primero  y  tercero. 

Cada  distrito  debedar  para  el  lleno  del  rio,  lo  que  pierda  en  traer  el  agua  a  siis  ultiraas 
tomas  dcsde  las  iil)7inas  tomas  del  distrito  superior  inmediato,  mas  una  parte  proporcional  para 
cubrir  el  .niimero  do  lioras  en  que  se  aprecie  la  cortada  dj  la  ciudad. 

Estas  perdidas  seran; 

Para  el  2.  '  distrito  el  tiempo  que  tarda  el  agria  desde  la  toma  de  Gojo  Diaz  a  la  do  Palo 
Blanco. 

Para  el  4.  ^  distrito -desde  qua  Uegue  a  la  toma  anterior  hasta  que  llegue  a  la  del  Carrizo 
en  Ilornito;  debiendo  tenerse  presentc  los  riegos  que  lleguen  antes  que  el  agua  de  Cordillera 
para  rebajarlos  de  sii  perdida.) 

Para  el  5.  °  distrito  lo  quo  tarde  el  agua  desde  el  Carrizo  hasta  el  desague  de  la  maquina 
de  Totoralillo  o  por  la  toma  que  destoraan  actualmente  o  por  elcauce  del  rio  o  por  ambas  a  la 
vez. 

Para  el  6.  °  distrito  lo  que  tarde  el  a^ua  desde  las  tomas  anteriores  a  la  donominada  de 
Esbry,  para  las  haciendas  de  Nantoco  y  Cerrillos  para  el  resto  del  distrito  hasta  que  llegue  a  la 
de  San  Roman. 

Para  el  7.  °    lo  que  pierda  desde  esta  ultima  hasta  la  de  Melendez. 

Para  el  8.  °    desde  la  de  Melendez  al  Crucero. 

A  la  hacienda  de  J  orquera  uno  de  sus  riegos  doce  boras  antes  de  erapezar  a  regar  el  pri- 
mer distrito  y  el  otro  a  los  siete  dias  y  a  la  misma  hoi'a 

El  riego  para  la  haiiienda  de  Pulido  doce  boras  antes  de  recibirlo   el  5.  °   distrito. 

El  riego  de  la  hacieuda  de  Manflas  queda  en  las  raismas  condiciones  que  actu.n.lratjnte  esta. 

2.°  Establecer  cua  tro  epocas  en  el  ano  para  oalcular  la  perdida  da  cada  distrito;  dichas 
epocas  seran:  primer  tunjio  de  Enero,  1.  °    id.  de  abril,  1.  ^  id.  de  Julio  7  1.  °    id.  de  octubre. 

3.  °  Todo  interesabo  de  una  aceq  nia  esta  en  la  obligacion  do  tapar  su  compuerta  y  dejar- 
la  bien  asegurada  para  que  it-s  filtraciones  de  los  distritos  euperiores  bajeu  y  refresquen  el 
cauce  del  rio  sin  ser  permiitido  a  nadie  hacer  de  ellas  el  menor  uso  y  para  que  al  bajar  cl  agua  a 
la  ciudad  no  se  pierda  nada  por  filtraciones  a  las  tomas,  bajo  la  pena  de  10  $  de  raulta. 

4.°  Para  evitar  con  adas  porjudiciales,  los  establecijaientos  indnstriales  tomaran  el  agua 
para  el  movimiento  de  siis  xniquinas,  cuando  al  bajar  para  la  ciudad  llogue  al  distrito  donde  ae 
hallen  ubicadas  y  teiidran  la  obligacion  de  haoer  asegurar  todas  las  compuertas  de  las  acequias 
gurtidoras,  siendo  responsable  de  cualqnier  abuso  que  se  cometa  y  quedando  sujeto  a  las  penas 
del  articulo  anterior. 

5.  P  La  eomision  llama  la  atencion  de  la  Ilustre  Municipalidad,  a  la  falta  do  un  reglamento, 
para  el  uso  del  agua  en  los  establecimieutos  indnstriales  del  valle  y  del  ferrocarril  en  ous  esta- 
ciones;  como  asi  mismo  a  las  ventajas  que  resultarian  de  la  compostura  del  cauce  del  rio,  por 
encontrarse  este  en  tal  mal  ostado. 

6.°  Lia  eomision  opina  por  que  fl  cambio  del  riego  sea  por  el  termino  de  un  a5o  por  via 
de  ensayos,  para  poder  rectifi.car  perjuicios  que  pudieran  resultar  y  que  por  ahora  no  Be  pueden 
prever. 

El  tercer  distrito  hara  como  hace  al  presente  su  riego  sin  sufrir  alteracien  alguna  en  el 
orden  de  su  turno. 

7.  °  Para  Uevar  a  efecto  lo  dispuesto  en  el  'precedente  acuerdo,  ee  nombrara  una  eomision 
pericial  por  los  dele;;ados  y  por  la  eomision  municipal,  tratando  en  lo  posible  que  ella  scator- 
mada  por  personas  que  no  ten.^an  in  teres  directo  en  el  riego. —  Guillermo  Walkins. — Juan 
2.  °   Sierralta. 

Copiapo,  mayo  22  de  1877.- — Es  copia  fiel  del  orijinal  que  queda  archiyado  en  la  secrctaria 
jaunicipal, — Jose  M.  Grove,  sec  retario. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT        127 

RESOLUTION 

adopted  by  the  delegates  appointed  to  effect  the  change  in  the 
system  of  rotation  practices  in  the  irrigation  of  the  valley. 

In  Copiapo,  May  2,  1877,  the  undersigned  Commission,  named  by  the 
delegates  of  the  irrigation  districts  in  the  valley,  for  the  purpose  of  formulating 
a  plan  for  a  change  in  the  present  system  of  irrigating,  having  assembled 
(the  chief  water-master  being  present),  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
reasons  advanced  bj^  him,  has  decided  that  the  following  plan  will  be  accept- 
able and  proposes  it  to  the  delegates  and  the  proprietors  in  the  valley: 

In  view  of  the  fact  that,  of  all  the  districts,  only  the  first  and  the  third 
receive  water  at  their  own  head  gates  at  their  corresponding  hours  without 
any  loss  in  bringing  it  from  the  next  higher  district;  and,  in  view  of  the  fact, 
also,  that  all  the  other  districts  have  a  certain  number  of  hours  belonging  to 
them  which  are  merely  nominal,  inasmuch  as  these  hours  are  lost  in  bringing 
the  water  from  the  district  that  precedes  them:  the  Commission  believes 
that,  by  having  each  district  give  up,  for  the  filling  of  the  river,  the  number 
of  nominal  hours  which  it  has,  and,  in  addition,  a  proportional  part  for  the 
estimated  hours  in  which  the  water  is  devoted  to  the  city,  and,  receiving  the 
rest  plus  that  taken  from  the  district  immediately  above,  they  [the  districts] 
would  be  placed  on  equal  footing  with  the  first  and  the  third  districts. 

Each  district  should  give,  for  the  filling  of  the  river,  the  time  which  it 
loses  in  bringing  the  water  to  its  last  head  gates  from  the  last  head  gates  of 
the  district  immediately  above,  plus  a  proportional  part  to  cover  the  number 
of  hours  estimated  as  required  for  the  city's  supply. 

These  losses  shall  be: 

For  the  second  district,  the  time  which  it  takes  the  water  to  go  from  the 
head  gate  of  Goyo  Diaz  to  that  of  Palo  Blanco. 

For  the  fourth  district,  the  time  from  the  arrival  of  water  at  the  last-named 
head  gate  to  its  arrival  at  the  head  gate  of  El  Carrizo  in  Hornito;  keeping 
in  mind  the  waters  that  arrive  before  the  water  of  the  Cordillera,  in  order 
to  deduct  them  from  its  loss. 

For  the  fifth  district,  the  time  it  takes  the  water  to  go  from  El  Carrizo 
to  the  wasteway  (desagiie)  of  the  machine  at  Totoralillo,  either  through  the 
gate  that  is  at  present  in  use  for  waste,  or  through  the  channel  of  the  river, 
or  through  them  both  at  the  same  time. 

For  the  sixth  district,  the  time  it  takes  the  water  to  go  from  the  last-men- 
tioned head  gates  to  the  head  gate  called  Esbry,  for  the  haciendas  Nantoco 
and  Cerrillos;  for  the  rest  of  the  district,  until  it  arrives  at  the  head  gate  of 
San  Roman. 

For  the  seventh  district,  the  time  that  is  lost  from  this  last  head  gate  to 
that  of  Melendez. 

For  the  eighth,  from  that  of  Melendez  to  [that  of]  the  Crucero. 

The  hacienda  of  Jorquera  [shall  lose]  one  of  its  irrigating  periods  twelve 
hours  before  the  first  district  begins  to  irrigate,  and  the  other,  seven  days 
afterwards,  and  at  the  same  hour. 

The  irrigating  period  twelve  hours  before  the  fifth  district  receives  water 
[shall  be  lost]  by  the  hacienda  of  Pulido. 

The  irrigating  period  for  the  hacienda  of  Manflas  remains  as  at  present. 

2.  The  Commission  proposes  the  establishment  of  four  periods  in  the 
year  for  calculating  the  loss  to  each  district:  (i)  the  first  turno  of  January; 
(2)  the  first  turno  of  April;  (3)  the  first  turno  of  July;  (4)  the  first  turno  of 
October. 

3.  Each  person  having  interests  in  an  irrigating  canal  is  under  the  obliga- 
tion of  closing  his  canal  gate  and  leaving  it  safely  closed,  in  order  that  what- 


128  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

ever  water  seeps  out  from  the  districts  above  may  come  down  and  moisten 
the  channel  of  the  river,  no  one  being  permitted  to  use  these  waters  in  any- 
way; and  in  order  that  when  the  water  comes  down  to  the  city  none  of  it 
shall  be  lost  by  filtering  through  the  canal  gates;  penalty  for  violation  of 
this  measure  being  a  fine  of  lo  pesos. 

4.  In  order  to  avoid  injurious  shut-ofi"s,  the  industrial  establishments  shall 
take  the  water  for  the  running  of  their  machinery  when  the  water,  on  its 
way  to  the  city,  reaches  the  districts  where  they  are  located,  and  they  shall 
be  obliged  to  see  that  all  the  canal  gates  of  the  distributing  canals  (aceqnias) 
are  securely  closed;  being  held  responsible  for  any  abuses  committed  and 
subject  to  the  same  penalties  as  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  article. 

5.  The  Commission  calls  to  the  attention  of  the  Honorable  Municipality 
the  lack  of  regulations  governing  the  use  of  water  in  the  industrial  establish- 
ments of  the  valley,  as  also  in  the  stations  of  the  railway;  and  also  to  the 
advantages  which  would  result  from  making  repairs  in  the  channel  of  the 
river,  which  is  in  such  bad  condition. 

6.  The  Commission  proposes  that  the  change  in  the  system  of  irrigation 
be  for  the  space  of  one  year  as  an  experiment,  in  order  that  defects  which 
may  become  apparent  but  which  cannot  be  foreseen  may  be  corrected. 

The  third  district  shall  continue  to  irrigate  in  the  present  way,  suffering 
no  modification  whatever  in  the  order  of  its  turno. 

7.  In  order  to  put  into  effect  the  measures  proposed  in  this  resolution,  a 
committee  of  experts  shall  be  named  by  the  delegates  and  the  municipal 
Commission,  as  far  as  possible  composed  of  persons  who  have  no  direct 
interests  in  the  irrigating  system.  (Signed)  Guillermo  Watkins.  Juan  2°. 
Sierralta. 

Copiapo,  May  22,  1877 

This  is  a  correct  copy  of  the  original  which  remains  in  the  archives  of  the 
municipal  secretary.    (Signed)  Jose  M.  Grove,  Secretary. 

of  the  sudden  Interruption  in  the  process  of  stealing  water 
from  his  neighbor's  canal.  It  was  pointed  out  to  me  that  the 
Decalogue  does  not  include  water  among  the  things  that  shall 
not  be  coveted,  hence  water  diversion  from  a  neighbor's  ditch 
at  three  o'clock  In  the  morning  seems  to  the  drought-stricken 
farmer  to  resemble  theft  less  than  intense  business  rivalry. 


The  Turno  in  Argentina 

Pierre  Denis  has  described  similar  conditions  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Cordillera  in  Argentina:  "At  Mendoza  and  San 
Juan  the  water-rights,  codified  In  provincial  laws  which  date, 
like  the  dams,  from  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  are  very 
different  from  the  water-rights  which  hold  In  the  Andean 
provinces  of  the  northwest.  The  variety  of  the  physical  condi- 
tions is  reflected  in  the  institutions.  Here  water  is  not  an 
object  of  private  ownership  independently  of  the  soil.    The 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       129 

concession  of  water  is  assigned  to  a  definite  estate,  and  it  is 
formulated  in  superficial  measurements.  The  law  fixes  the 
volume  of  water  that  goes  with  each  unit  of  surface.  If  the 
output  of  the  river  is  not  large  enough  to  provide  the  volume 
stated  in  the  law  to  the  whole  of  the  irrigated  district,  all  the 
lands  with  definitive  rights  receive  at  least  an  equal  amount, 
and  the  available  water  is  shared  by  the  canals  in  proportion 
to  the  extent  of  the  surface  they   irrigate. 

"No  law  could  secure  for  the  farmers  of  Cuyo,  even  those 
with  definitive  rights,  a  constant  supply  of  water,  or  save 
them  from  suffering  in  common  from  the  variation  in  the 
volume  of  the  torrents,  and  it  was  not  even  possible  to  guar- 
antee them  water  in  any  permanent  fashion.  The  tiirno  is 
used  everywhere  when  the  water  is  low.  Lower  down,  where 
the  drought  lasts  nearly  the  whole  year,  the  turno  is  the  stand- 
ing rule.  At  La  Paz,  on  the  fringe  of  the  irrigated  area,  it  has 
to  be  applied  rigorously.  The  turn  of  each  owner  comes  every 
eight,  ten,  or  twelve  days.  In  normal  times  he  receives  the 
suerte  de  agua;  that  is  to  say,  the  output  of  a  sluice  of  a  fixed 
size  during  a  half-hour  for  each  hectare  (a  little  over  two 
acres)  of  land.  But  if  the  river  runs  low,  it  becomes  impossible 
to  supply  several  neighbors  simultaneously,  and,  in  order  to 
avoid  making  the  interval  between  supplies  too  long,  the 
duration  of  the  suerte  de  agua  is  reduced  by  half  or  three- 
quarters. 

"The  oases  of  Cuyo  are  like  the  small  oases  of  the  north- 
west as  regards  the  function  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  the 
administration  of  irrigation.  The  water-laws  give  the  provin- 
cial functionaries  general  directions.  Below  them,  however, 
to  arrange  the  distribution  of  the  water  and  the  upkeep  of 
the  canals  in  detail,  they  have  allowed  to  survive,  and  have 
merely  regulated,  certain  primitive  democratic  organisms. 
At  San  Juan  the  superintendence  of  the  irrigation  is  entrusted 
to  elected  municipal  councils  and  the  governor  of  the  depart- 
ment. At  Mendoza,  the  owners  appoint  a  council  of  three 
delegates  and  an  inspector  for  each  canal,  and  these  settle  the 
annual  budget  of  the  canal,  submit  it  to  the  provincial  authori- 
ties, receive  the  taxes,  carry  out  the  necessary  repairs,  and  so 


I30  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

on.  The  great  subdivision  of  property  and  the  large  number 
of  electors  make  these  little  republics  very  lively;  and  they  are 
very  jealous  of  their  autonomy. "^^ 


Similarities  in  Arid  Africa 

In  the  simpler  societies  of  the  world  where  there  is  a  close 
dependence  upon  natural  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  there 
is  also  great  similarity  of  customs  and  means  of  life.  Tibet 
and  the  Puna  de  Atacama  have  many  resemblances.  Desert 
folk  in  Atacama  are  in  certain  ways  strikingly  like  those  of  the 
Sahara  or  the  Kalahari  desert  In  Africa.  Like  the  turno  of 
Chile  and  Argentina  Is  the  system  of  water  measurement  in 
use  in  Algeria.  From  Hilton-Simpson's  extremely  Interesting 
book  "Among  the  Hill-Folk  of  Algeria"^*  I  quote  the  following 
passages : 

"The  system  of  irrigation  in  use  at  BenI  Ferah  Is  that  which 
obtains  all  over  the  Aures,  and,  as  Its  study  brought  to  our 
notice  a  very  quaint  method  of  measuring  time,  we  may 
examine  it  in  some  detail.  At  a  point  situated  some  distance 
above  the  gardens  the  river  is  tapped  by  means  of  a  barrage, 
often  consisting  merely  of  a  line  of  boulders  so  placed  as  to 
deflect  a  certain  amount  of  the  stream  Into  a  narrow  canal, 
known  In  Algeria  as  a  'seggia',  by  means  of  which  it  is  con- 
ducted through,  or  rather  beside  and  slightly  above,  the  land 
to  be  cultivated,  each  garden  possessing  its  own  branch  chan- 
nel from  the  main  'seggia'  by  means  of  which  it  can  be  flooded 
in  its  turn.   .  .   . 

"When  a  garden  is  purchased  the  buyer  must  acquire,  also 
by  purchase,  the  right  to  a  supply  of  water  according  to  Its 
size;  thus  an  extensive  property  may  require  the  uninter- 
rupted flow  of  all  the  water  in  the  canal  which  irrigates  It  for 
one  whole  day  in  the  week,  while  another  may  only  be  allowed 
one  or  more  hours  of  irrigation  in  the  same  period. 

"The  stream  is  tapped  by  more  than  one  main  'seggia',  and 

^■'  Pierre  Denis:  The  Argentine  Republic,  New  York,  1922,  pp.  85-86.  See  also 
footnote  93,  p.  209,  for  reference  to  water  rights  in  northwestern  Argentina. 

"  M.  W.  Hilton-Simpson:  Among  the  Hill-Folk  of  Algeria,  London,  1921,  pp.  43-45. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       131 

the  flow  of  water  Is  turned  into  these  in  turn.  Upon  the  day 
on  which  any  given  'seggia'  is  to  be  used  the  owners  of  the 
various  gardens  situated  beside  it  assemble  and,  repairing 
to  a  point  overlooking  the  gardens,  proceed  to  divide  the  flow 
of  water  between  them. 

"So  precious  is  the  liquid  that  even  a  few  moments  more  or 
less  in  the  period  of  its  flow  into  a  garden  is  of  considerable 
importance;  the  Shawia  therefore  mistrust  the  employment  of 
modern  watches,  whose  rate  can  be  dishonestly  adjusted,  as  a 
means  of  measuring  the  time  for  which  each  owner  is  entitled 
to  the  flow  of  the  canal. 

"Instead,  they  make  use  of  a  system  of  measuring  time 
which  must  be  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  has  probably  per- 
sisted in  this  land  of  survivals  for  countless  generations  in 
company  with  other  strange  customs  of  the  Shawia. 

"A  member  of  the  village  council  accompanies  the  land- 
owners, bringing  with  him  a  large  earthen  bowl,  or  metal 
pail,  of  water,  and  a  small  copper  bowl,  the  bottom  of  which 
is  perforated  with  a  very  minute  hole;  at  the  moment  when 
the  mud  wall  of  the  'seggia'  is  cut  through  and  the  water 
allowed  to  flow  into  the  first  garden  the  councillor  carefully 
places  the  perforated  bowl,  the  property  of  the  village  council, 
and  therefore  the  legal  measure,  upon  the  water  in  the  pail, 
watching  carefully  for  it  to  sink,  which  it  will  do  in  about 
fifteen  minutes,  and  refloating  it  again  immediately  it  does  so. 
Thus  each  landowner  is  entitled  to  three,  four,  six,  or  eight, 
as  the  case  may  be,  sinkings  of  the  copper  bowl  rather  than 
to  any  given  number  of  actual  hours  or  portions  of  an  hour, 
and  as  the  time  approaches  when  the  flow  of  water  into  a 
garden  is  to  cease,  a  neighbor  in  the  little  group  of  landowners 
will  shout  to  an  assistant  in  his  garden  below  to  be  ready  upon 
the  instant  to  cut  open  an  inlet  into  his  land  in  the  side  of  the 
'seggia'  as  soon  as  the  bowl  has  sunk  for  the  last  time  in  the 
series  allotted  to  his  friend,  who  at  that  moment  will  cry  out 
to  a  man  in  his  garden  to  stem  the  flow  of  water  he  has  been 
receiving  by  filling  up  with  mud  the  hole  through  which  it 
has  been  running. 

"Each  landowner  being  present  in  person,  and  the  fact  that 


132  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

the  measuring  Is  done  by  an  elder  with  the  official  bowl,  ap- 
pears to  ensure  that  this  quaint  old-fashioned  method  of  meas- 
uring time  gives  satisfaction  to  all  concerned. 

"The  lack  of  a  sufficiency  of  water,  which  has  called  into  use 
the  water-clock  just  described,  also  tends  to  maintain  in 
existence  an  old  custom  connected  with  prayer  for  rain  which 
may  well  have  existed  in  Algeria  for  countless  ages  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Mohammedan  faith,  and  which,  when  once  we 
had  observed  it,  helped  us  considerably  towards  commencing 
our  investigations  into  the  superstitions  of  the  Shawia." 


A  Year  of  Rain 

But  there  is  a  happier  aspect  to  the  picture  of  the  struggle 
for  water.  With  what  enthusiasm  a  desert  dweller  still  speaks 
of  the  years  of  abundance — when  the  rains  come,  and  there  is 
plenty  for  all.  The  influence  of  the  seasons  on  the  valley 
people  is  a's  marked  as  ever.  In  spite  of  a  railroad,  a  higher 
degree  of  organization,  and  a  position  near  one  of  the  routes 
of  world  commerce,  the  Copiapeiios  find  the  rains  of  deepest 
concern.  When  showers  come  cattle  are  driven  to  the  free 
upland  pastures.  Between  1890  and  1892  the  valley  stock  was 
sent  into  the  hills,  the  owners  lived  in  tents  like  true  nomads 
and  in  the  plenty  of  those  years  forgot  long-standing  quarrels 
over  water  rights.  The  earth  is  then  no  longer  a  desert  waste. 
Where  sand  and  tough  shrubs  ordinarily  hold  sway  there  is 
now  wild  clover,  knee-deep,  luxuriant.  The  erstwhile  niggardly 
earth  yields  an  abundance  of  food,  as  if  suddenly  awakened  to 
generosity  of  its  own  free  will — sponte  sua,  as  Horace  observed 
in  an  environment  that  bred  the  phrase.  Flowers  bedeck  the 
light-green  upland  meadows.    It  is  a  year  of  rain! 

Now  that  the  nitrate  fields  are  in  a  high  state  of  development 
and  in  chronic  need  of  laborers,  the  dry  years  in  the  southern 
valleys  are  times  of  migration  to  the  northern  desert.  There 
the  workers  remain  until  they  hear  from  relatives  and  friends 
that  rains  have  brought  plenty,  whereupon  they  drift  back  to 
old  occupations — the  transport  of  merchandise  by  pack  train, 
the  cattle  business,  the  production  of  alfalfa,  or  a  host  of  minor 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       133 

projects  which  general  prosperity  encourages,  if  it  does  not 
create,  and  which  general  distress  forces  people  to  abandon. 


The  Transition  Zone  South  of  Copiapo 

The  change  from  arid  to  semiarid  climate  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama  takes  place  in  a  very  narrow  belt 
of  country  about  Vallenar.  In  the  Vallenar  district  there  is  a 
distinct  rainy  season  that  extends  from  May  to  August.  June 
and  July  have  commonly  the  greatest  rainfall:  three  heavy 
showers  and  it  is  called  a  very  wet  year.  But  the  fact  that 
rain  may  be  depended  upon  to  come  practically  every  year 
gives  a  stability  to  ranching  and  valley  farming  which  is  not 
enjoyed  at  Copiapo  and  places  farther  north.  At  the  time  I 
visited  it,  in  mid-July,  1913,  there  had  been  no  rain  whatever, 
and  it  was  said  that  this  was  the  first  year  in  twelve  that  the 
drought  had  been  so  prolonged  and  the  third  year  in  succession 
that  no  substantial  amount  of  rain  had  fallen.  Yet  this  is 
only  a  day's  journey  from  Copiapo  where  rains  are  not  de- 
pendable at  all  and  where  instead  of  one  dry  year  in  twelve 
there  is  more  commonly  but  one  "wet"  year  in  twelve  (cf .  Fig.  1 4) . 

The  heaviest  rains  in  the  wet  years  at  Vallenar  produce 
damage  as  great  as  at  Copiapo.  When  all  the  mountain  ra- 
vines have  running  water  the  main  stream,  the  Huasco,  rises  to 
a  great  height  and  gnaws  away  the  lower  terraces  and  the  edges 
of  the  flood  plain.  In  1906  and  1907  there  was  high  water,  and 
in  one  period  so  much  damage  was  done  to  the  valley  lands 
that  the  land  had  actually  to  be  resurveyed  and  reapportioned. 

Unlike  the  narrow  and  small  irrigated  tracts  about  Copiapo, 
the  Huasco  valley  at  Vallenar  is  covered  with  green.  The 
whole  floor  is  populated  for  fifty  or  sixty  miles  upstream,  and 
many  of  the  terraces  are  irrigated  and  covered  with  green  al- 
falfa fields.  In  the  midst  of  them  stand  the  ranch  houses,  spa- 
cious and  prosperous-looking  in  contrast  to  the  small  huts  of 
the  smaller  farms  on  the  valley  floor.  Above  and  below  the 
city  are  "shut-ins,"  or  narrow  places  in  the  valley,  so  that  the 
town  appears  to  be  in  the  bottom  of  a  vast  bowl  and,  when 
seen  from  above  with  its  great  expanse  of  alfalfa  meadows 


134  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

roundabout  it,  presents  one  of  the  most  attractive  sights  in 
the  whole  country  (Fig.  33).  The  higher  terraces  are  stony, 
and  when  the  land  is  improved  the  stones  are  left  upon  the 
ground  to  prevent  excessive  washing.  The  alfalfa  seed  is  sown 
and  the  land  irrigated,  stones  and  all,  after  plowing.  Irrigation 
is  said  to  have  its  best  effect  when  the  alfalfa  is  closely 
cropped,  and  horses  and  finally  sheep  are  pastured  upon  the 
meadows  to  accomplish  this  end.  The  stones  are  then  cleared 
away  and  made  into  stone  or  stone-and-earth  fences.  Each 
crop  requires  three  soakings  by  irrigation,  and  a  field  once  well 
seeded  will  last  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  without  resowing, 

I  visited  a  large  ranch  owned  by  Sir  John  Murray  and  R.  W. 
Cummings.  The  manager,  Mr.  H.  F.  Wakefield,  showed  me 
about  the  ranch,  which  is  called  Hacienda  de  la  Compaiiia 
Agricola.  It  is  fifty  miles  long  and  twenty-five  miles  broad  in 
its  widest  part,  narrowing  to  five  miles.  It  is  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  growing  of  alfalfa  and  the  fattening  of  live  stock. 
The  baled  alfalfa  is  exported  to  the  nitrate  establishments  of 
the  desert  farther  north  and  in  1913  sold  for  6  pesos  per  bale 
of  150  pounds.  There  are  three  crops  of  alfalfa  a  year,  and  the 
total  production  of  the  ranch  is  50,000  bales.  This  is  the  maxi- 
mum production  in  a  good  season,  and  there  were  then  350 
cuadras  under  cultivation.  The  main  canal  which  feeds  the 
ranch  is  21  kilometers  long  and  cost  400,000  pesos  Chilenos 
to  build.  (The  canal  feeding  a  large  ranch  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  valley  cost  700,000  pesos.)  It  is  two  meters  broad 
at  the  intake  and  when  full  will  carry  water  40  centimeters 
deep.  Water  rights  were  obtained  from  the  government  in 
1903,  and  the  ranch  is  permitted  to  irrigate  three  days  a  week 
to  the  full  capacity  of  the  canal. 

Part  of  the  business  of  the  ranch  is  the  raising  of  cattle. 
These  are  imported  from  the  Argentine  or  brought  from  farther 
south  in  Chile.  The  cost  of  pasturing  the  cattle  on  the  ranch 
runs  from  12  to  16  pesos  per  month  per  head.  When  the  stock 
is  fattened  the  owners  then  ship  it  to  the  nitrate  oficinas  or  to 
the  markets  of  the  coast  ports. 

The  people  who  live  in  Chile  at  the  edge  of  the  desert  are 
necessarily   on   the   lookout   for   fresh   material   advantages. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       135 


Fig.  36 


Fig.  37 

Fig.  36 — Hauling  alfalfa  in  oxcarts  to  the  railroad  station  at  Vallenar  for 
shipment  to  the  nitrate  pampa.   Estate  of  Sir  John  Murray. 

Fig.  37 — Administration  building  and  residence  of  the  manager  of  Hacienda  de 
la  Compania  Agricola,  Vallenar,  Chile. 


136  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

There  are  three  specIaHzed  industries  in  this  part  of  South 
America  that  deserve  particular  mention:  the  trade  in  fire- 
wood, the  gathering  of  algarrobilla,  and  chinchilla  hunting. 


A  Local  Trade  in  Firewood 

All  of  the  principal  valleys  about  Copiapo  and  Vallenar 
have  been  settled  for  a  long  time,  in  fact  since  the  Conquest; 
and  the  natural,  or  wild,  growth  of  wood  has  been  gathered  up 
and  down  the  valley  and  for  some  distance  out  into  the  desert, 
just  as  about  the  mines  and  settlements  of  Bolivia  and  Peru 
llareta  (moss)  and  tola  bushes  are  gathered  at  greater  and 
greater  distances  with  the  increase  of  population  and  the 
rise  of  modern  industry. 

In  Copiapo  and  Vallenar  the  mines  have  brought  increasing 
populations,  and  the  point  has  been  reached  where  the  valleys 
do  not  supply  all  the  necessities.  A  growing  quantity  of 
foodstuffs  and  other  essentials  are  being  imported,  and  among 
them  is  wood.  It  is  said  that  Vallenar  was  built  originally  of 
wood  cut  in  the  lower  Huasco  valley  and  that  Copiapo  once 
stood  in  the  midst  of  a  rather  dense  stand  of  wood,  taking  in 
1744  the  name  San  Francisco  de  la  Selva.  The  rapid  cutting 
and  burning  of  the  natural  growth  took  place  about  one  hun- 
dred years  ago.  It  is  traditional  that  the  province  of  Atacama 
had  a  widely  extended  woodland  dependent  in  some  places  up- 
on ground  water,  once  standing  at  a  higher  level  than  today,  in 
other  places  upon  the  coastal  fog  and  more  frequent  though 
scanty  showers  that  fall  in  the  coastal  belt,  as  about  the  bay 
of  Coquimbo  and  southward. ^^  The  present  commercial  supply 
of  wood  at  Copiapo  comes  from  a  wild  growth  of  shrubs  forty 
miles  south  of  Vallenar  in  the  Huasco  valley.  With  the  open- 
ing of  the  railway  in  the  past  decade  it  became  possible  to 
gather  and  market  wild  stands  that  were  formerly  considered 
commercially  inaccessible.  The  best  stands  of  wood  are  found 
in  that  portion  of  the  Huasco  valley  which  is  naturally  sub- 
irrigated  and  yet  which  does  not  tempt  agriculture.    Thirty 

65  Walter  Knoche:  tjber  die  nordliche  Waldgrenze  in  Chile,  Zeitschr.  Gesell.  fiir 
Erdkunde  zu  Berlin,  1923,  pp.  41-45. 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       137 

or  forty  miles  up  and  down  the  Huasco  valley  extend  the 
flatter  lands  where  the  valley  farmers  live,  and  there  a  com- 
pany has  developed  a  vast  ranch  that  uses  the  principal  part  of 
the  water  supply.  Outside  its  holdings  any  one  can  cut  the 
wood  and  sell  it  to  the  dealers.  The  wood  consists  of  crooked 
roots  and  stumps  of  gnarled  desert  shrubs  six  to  eight  feet  high 
and  is  sold  even  in  the  smallest  quantities.  Children  come  to 
the  dealer's  counter  to  obtain  from  two  to  five  cents'  worth  of 
wood  at  a  time  or  barely  enough  to  cook  a  single  meal.  Whole- 
sale it  costs  from  eight  to  ten  pesos  per  one  hundred  kilos,  or 
one  dollar  per  hundred  pounds. 

Wood  that  is  obtained  from  the  highest  elevations  at  which 
it  is  gathered  is  called  lena  harrilla  and  is  brought  down  to  the 
railway  by  burros.  A  man  will  leave  the  valley  and  travel 
three  days  out  across  the  desert  foothills  to  reach  the  ravines 
and  favored  spots  where  the  shrubs  grow.  He  will  spend  one 
day  cutting  them  and  three  days  coming  back.  The  best  wood 
in  the  cordillera  is  the  resinous  and  green  tola  bush.  It  has 
bright  yellow  flowers  in  season  and  a  strong  odor,  which  it 
imparts  to  food  cooked  over  the  fire.  A  plant  closely  resem- 
bling the  tola  is  called  tolilla,  but  it  has  a  very  limited  distribu- 
tion. Pata-del-oro  is  like  a  small  conifer  and  gives  out  a  strong 
odor  on  burning,  which  is  also  imparted  to  the  food  cooked 
over  it.  It  grows  much  taller  than  tola,  is  very  resinous,  and  is 
not  found  in  localities  where  other  woods  grow.  It  is  confined 
to  situations  of  modern  elevation. 

In  some  localities  the  people  are  supported  principally  by 
traffic  in  wood,  as  in  the  foothill  belt  where  wood  is  gathered 
in  the  moister  ravines  and  taken  to  San  Pedro  and  other 
towns  of  importance,  the  beasts  that  carry  it  being  loaded 
with  provisions  on  the  return  journey.  On  the  eastern  side 
of  the  cordillera  there  is  an  extensive  commerce  in  cardon,  also 
called  quisco,  the  straight  cactus  {Cereus  atacamensis) . 

Gathering  of  Algarrobilla 

About  Vallenar  and  eastward  to  the  mountains  there  grows 
a  shrub  called  algarrobilla.   It  is  from  two  to  five  feet  in  height 


138  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  looks  somewhat  like  one  of  the  smaller  mimosas.  It 
produces  a  pod  about  the  shape  and  size  of  a  peanut.  The 
matured  pod  makes  a  black  ink  upon  infusion  with  a  mordant; 
but  is  mainly  used  by  tanners,  as  it  greatly  accelerates  the 
process  of  tanning.  It  is  also  used  in  the  cleaning  of  boilers. 
It  began  to  be  exploited  commercially  about  1890.  It  is  now 
gathered  by  the  natives  and  sacked  for  storage.  When  a 
sufihcient  amount  has  been  gathered  for  a  shipment  it  is  taken 
to  port,  chiefly  to  Vallenar,  and  sent  to  the  tanneries  of  Europe, 
principally  to  Liverpool  (and  to  Hamburg  before  the  World 
War)  except  for  3000  to  4000  bags  which  are  used  by  the  tan- 
neries of  Chile.  In  rainy  years — that  is  after  two  or  three 
showers  in  winter — there  is  a  crop  of  20,000  or  30,000  bags  of 
200  pounds  each  which  averages  in  Liverpool  about  £14  per 
ton.  In  1913  the  crop  amounted  to  20,000  bags,  and  at 
the  prices  then  prevailing  was  worth  $100,000.  In  rainless 
years  the  bush  does  not  produce  fruit.  It  is  uncultivated 
and  is  decreasing,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  cut  for  fuel.  It 
grows  only  to  the  north  of  La  Serena  and  the  south  of  Copiapo. 
In  years  of  favorable  rains  donkeys  and  mules  bring  down 
wood,  algarrobilla,  and  the  ^  products  of  the  smallest  mines 
scattered  through  the  mountains.  In  bad  years  the  mules 
must  be  fed  on  stored  alfalfa;  this  makes  it  expensive  to  use 
them  in  transportation  away  from  the  irrigated  valley,  with  the 
consequence  that  the  ores  of  the  scattered  mines  are  allowed 
to  accumulate,  and  the  supply  of  algarrobilla  falls  off.  In  such 
times  the  gatherers  of  this  plant  become  greedy  of  rivals  and 
take  the  product  green,  letting  it  ripen  in  the  house  or  court- 
yard. It  is  then  inferior  to  the  naturally  ripened  product. 
"Cueva"  algarrobilla  is  that  stored  in  holes  in  the  ground  by 
rodents.  The  natives  gather  it  to  supplement  poor  crops,  but 
it  is  in  such  condition  as  to  command  only  a  low  price. 


Chinchilla  Hunting 

The  tiny  chinchilla  has  a  silver  gray  and  extremely  fine  and 
light  fur,  one  of  the  most  highly  prized  of  commerce.  The 
animal  inhabits  crevices  in  the  rock  and  openings  in  loose  piles 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT       139 

of  stone  In  the  high  Cordillera  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  does  not 
now  live  at  low  elevations.  The  range  of  the  chinchilla  is  from 
the  southern  end  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama  near  Illapel  north- 
ward through  Chile  to  southern  Peru  and  the  highlands  and 
mountains  of  western  Bolivia.  The  chinchilla  are  found  in 
greatest  numbers  where  algarrobilla  grows,  but  they  appear 
to  thrive  in  any  arid,  shrubby,  cactus-covered  country  at  high 


Fig.  38 — The  pod  and  seeds  of  the  algarrobilla  in  natural 
size. 

elevations  where  natural  rock  piles  accumulate  and  furnish  a 
cavelike  shelter  difficult  of  access.  They  live  on  grains,  seeds, 
wild  onions,  herbs,  lichens,  and  algarrobilla.  They  seem  to 
prefer  the  sweet  seed  of  the  algarrobilla,  pods  of  this  plant 
being  found  in  their  holes. ^^  Near  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  on 
the  steep  walls  of  a  ravine  formed  of  reddish  brown  sandstone 
we  found  carved  the  design  of  a  chinchilla  skin  done  to  scale 
and  faithful  even  to  the  minutest  detail  (Fig.  84).  Closely 
resembling  the  chinchilla  in  size  and  form  is  the  vizcacha,  but 
its  fur  is  coarser  and  longer  and  varies  from  a  pleasing  gray 
to  a  dirty  brown.  Though  many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
interest  manufacturers  and  the  public  in  the  vizcacha  fur,  they 
have  all  been  unsuccessful. 

55  Federico  Albert:  La  Chinchilla,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1901,  pp.  8  and  10. 


140  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

As  the  demand  for  chinchilla  has  increased,  the  price  of  the 
fur  has  increased  correspondingly,  and  hunters  have  scoured 
every  part  of  the  Cordillera  in  search  of  the  valuable  pelt. 
The  chinchilla  hunters  come  from  the  little  villages  strung 
along  the  western  edge  of  the  mountains  where  the  coastal  des- 
ert begins,  and  they  describe  their  journeys  in  the  picturesque 
phrase  "chinchillando  en  la  cordillera."  Ferrets,  cage  traps, 
and  smoke  are  the  means  employed  to  drive  the  animals  from 
their  holes.  The  pelts  are  brought  to  the  local  markets,  San 
Pedro  de  Atacama  being  one  of  the  most  important.  When 
sorted  and  wrapped  in  bundles  they  are  ready  for  shipment 
to  the  coast  ports  and  thence  to  the  northern  markets. 

In  view  of  the  dwindling  supply  of  chinchilla  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  grow  them  in  captivity.  Two  companies  in  the 
United  States  have  become  interested  in  the  plan,  though 
with  what  ultimate  success  can  only  be  conjectured  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  climate  and  food,  but  principally  of  climate. 
Certainly  it  is  a  more  difficult  business  than  fox  farming. 

The  most  ambitious  effort  to  grow  chinchilla  in  captivity 
has  been  undertaken  on  the  ranch  of  Sir  John  Murray  at 
Vallenar.  There  was  established  a  chinchilla  farm,  probably 
the  largest  in  the  world.  Five  hundred  chinchilla  were  pur- 
chased at  the  beginning  of  the  experiment,  and  in  a  few  years 
a  round-up  disclosed  a  population  of  about  two  thousand. 
The  farm  was  enclosed  by  3000  meters  of  wire  fence,  counting 
all  the  divisions,  and  covered  an  area  of  25  cuadras.  Covered 
squares  of  stone  were  provided  to  the  number  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  (Fig.  39).  These  were  covered  with  cane  and  mud; 
and  it  is  better  to  provide  this  shelter  than  the  simple  rock 
piles,  for  the  young  can  then  be  seen  and  the  dead  ones 
recovered  and  buried.  The  animals  were  fed  chiefly  upon 
alfalfa  and  a  local  cactus  called  tunilla,  which  flowers  and  fruits 
every  year.  Two  loads  of  alfalfa  of  46  kilos  each  were  fed 
weekly  to  the  chinchilla,  and  16  arrobas  of  tunilla  of  25  pounds 
each.  The  farm  declined  with  an  invasion  of  rats,  and  from 
present  reports  the  experiment  seems  to  have  been  abandoned. 

In  191 1  a  party  of  about  fifteen  chinchilla  hunters  came  up 
from  Coquimbo  and  Vallenar  and  hunted  the  whole  cordillera 


THE  SOUTHERN  MARGIN  OF  THE  DESERT 


141 


Fig.  39 


Fig.  40 

Fig.  39 — Artificial  mounds  in  which  the  chinchilla  live  on  the  farm  of  Sir  John 
Murray,  Vallenar. 

Fig.  40 — A  part  of  Sir  John  Murray's  chinchilla  farm,  Vallenar.    The  wire 
fencing  is  sunk  in  a  trench. 


142  DESERT  AaILS  OF  ATACAMA 

as  far  north  as  San  Pedro  and  even  beyond,  penetrating  most 
of  the  valleys  of  the  Cordillera  Domeyko  (Fig.  87).  They 
brought  with  them  small  and  thin  dogs  that  could  enter  the 
chinchilla  holes,  and  so  thoroughly  did  they  clear  out  the  chin- 
chilla that  they  have  been  scarce  ever  since.  I  paid  30  pesos 
Chilean,  or  $6  in  U.  S.  money,  in  San  Pedro  for  a  good  chin- 
chilla skin  in  July,  1913.  (It  is  worth  $25  gold  in  the  United 
States.)  In  Albert's  account  of  the  chinchilla  quoted  above 
there  are  given  statistics  of  the  export  of  chinchilla  skins  from 
Chile  and  the  measures  best  calculated  to  conserve  the  indus- 
try. He  estimated  that  out  of  the  departments  of  Vallenar  and 
Coquimbo  half  a  million  skins  were  shipped  annually  (1900) 
and  that  the  extinction  of  the  animal  would  follow  unless 
conservation  measures  were  enforced. 


CHAPTER  VII 

EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  AND  THE 
ROARING  MOUNTAIN  OF  TOLEDO 

One  of  the  few  two-story  houses  in  Copiapo  Is  the  Hotel  de 
Atacama,  kept  at  the  time  of  my  visit  by  Bosman,  a  Dutch- 
man from  South  Africa.  The  beds  occupy  the  inner  corners  of 
the  sleeping  rooms  where  experience  has  shown  there  is  the 
greatest  safety  at  times  of  earthquake,  owing  to  the  stability 
given  by  converging  walls.  From  side  to  side  under  the  ceiling 
of  my  room  there  ran  a  heavy  iron  rod  which  pierced  the  walls 
and  held  in  place  great  round  iron  clamps  visible  on  the  out- 
side. The  rod  tends  to  prevent  the  outer  wall  from  being 
thrown  out  in  times  of  earthquake,  thus  allowing  the  roof  to 
crash  down.  The  cracks  in  the  walls  and  the  ruins  of  many  old 
earthen  houses  in  the  suburbs  attest  the  violence  of  past  earth- 
quakes for  which  the  region  is  famous." 

What  was  probably  the  most  disastrous  shock  ever  experi- 
enced by  the  city,  occurred  in  April,  1819,  and  presented  the 
very  unusual  feature  of  a  grouping  of  three  successive  shocks, 
on  the  3rd,  5th,  and  nth,  each  one  heavier  than  the  preceding. 
The  houses  and  churches,  which  were  then  built  almost  entirely 
of  rubble  masonry,  were  leveled,  and  the  town  was  practically 
destroyed.  When  rebuilt  on  the  same  site,  all  the  better  struc- 
tures were  erected  with  wood  frames  filled  in  with  adobe,  and 
no  subsequent  earthquake  has  caused  equal  damage.  At  the 
time  there  was  talk  of  moving  the  site  of  the  city.  Three  years 
later,  after  another  violent  quake,  many  people  went  from 
Copiapo  to  Huasco  to  live. 

The  records  of  the  Copiapo  Mining  Company  (see  following 
chapter)  contain  an  account  of  an  earthquake  which  occurred 
at  8  A.  M.  on  October  5,  1859,  and  did  much  damage  through- 

"  Details  of  the  seismological  history  of  southern  Peru  and  northern  Chile  are  given 
in  F.  Montessus  de  Ballore:  Historia  sismica  de  los  Andes  Meridionales,  Part  II,  San- 
tiago, 1912.   See  also  C.  M.  Sayago:  Historia  de  Copiapo,  Copiapo,  1874. 

143 


144  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

out  the  province,  and  there  follows  the  accompanying  table 
of  damages : 

Houses  completely  ruined 115 

Houses  uninhabitable 224 

The  re-erection  of  which  will  cost 660,000  pesos 

Losses  in  tapias  (mud  walls),  garden  walls,  and  enclosures 140,000 

Shopkeepers'  losses  in  goods  and  furniture 40,000 

Public  buildings,  repairs  to  church,  prison,  hospital 80,000 

Other  losses 10,000 

Total 930,000  pesos 

It  Is  further  noted  that  all  the  smelting  works  at  Caldera 
were  totally  destroyed  except  those  of  the  Coplapo  Smelting 
Company,  whose  establishment  was  built  on  rocky  ground. 

After  the  earthquake  of  1877  many  of  the  townsfolk  slept 
in  the  hills  every  night.  In  June,  1909,  there  was  also  a  severe 
earthquake.  Considerable  damage  was  done  In  the  earth- 
quakes of  191 8  and  1922.  Under  such  circumstances  the  people 
run  out  Into  the  streets  at  even  the  slightest  shocks.  I  wit- 
nessed such  a  scramble  from  Indoors  In  July,  191 3,  when  a 
slight  shock  was  felt.  I  had  earlier  had  a  similar  experience  at 
Pica  east  of  the  nitrate  desert.  In  the  latter  case  the  distant 
but  rapidly  nearing  rumble  that  preceded  the  sharp  shock  was 
most  impressive. 

Effects  of  the  Earthquake  of  191 8 

Only  a  few  of  the  better  class  of  houses  in  Coplapo  are  made 
of  wood,  and  even  these  have  outbuildings  or  extensions  made 
of  other  material,  such  as  adobe  and  cane.  Some  of  the  wood 
for  house  building  is  imported  from  southern  Chile;  and  some, 
the  greater  part,  Is  imported  from  Oregon,  Washington,  and 
California.  By  far  the  larger  part  of  the  city  is  composed  of 
houses  of  a  cheaper  class.  There  are  four  main  types  of  houses: 
(i)  cane  of  Guayaquil,  (2)  brea  (a  resinous  shrub),  (3)  adobe, 
and  (4)  earth,  according  to  the  classification  of  Linnemann.^* 
The  types  are  named  in  the  order  of  their  quality,  from  the 
best  down.  The  houses  made  of  earth  are  built  of  blocks  about 

58  Clemens  Linnemann:  Informe  sobre  el  terremoto  de  Copiapo  del  4  de  Diciembre 
de  1918,  Bol.  Minero.  de  la  Soc.  Nad.  de  Mineria,  Vol.  34,  1922,  pp.  412-420. 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  145 

half  a  meter  wide  and  one  and  a  half  meters  long.  The  earth  is 
obtained  from  the  flood  plain  of  the  CopIap&  River  and  Is 
molded  In  the  form  of  rough  blocks.  These  are  laid  one  on  top 
of  the  other  to  the  height  of  the  walls,  which  Is  about  six  feet. 
In  almost  all  cases  houses  of  this  type  are  made  without  a 
framework  of  wood  or  any  other  kind  of  protection.  Upon  the 
tops  of  the  walls  firmer  material  made  of  adobe  must  be  placed 
In  order  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  roof.  The  walls  are  then 
plastered  over  with  a  layer  of  mud  to  make  an  even  surface. 
The  roof  Is  In  most  cases  flat  or  nearly  so  and  Is  composed  of  a 
framework  of  wood  covered  with  cane  or  reed,  and  this  In  turn 
is  covered  with  mud.  Every  year  or  two  a  fresh  layer  of  mud  is 
plastered  over  the  old  layer,  a  thick  and  heavy  mass  being 
built  up  in  this  way.  Houses  of  this  type  can  be  constructed  at 
little  cost. 

More  expensive  Is  the  adobe  type  of  house,  also  made  of 
thin  blocks  of  earth  molded  and  dried  but  supported  in  critical 
places  by  wooden  uprights  and  of  crude  construction  which 
give  a  wall  of  greater  flexibility.  The  outer  surface  of  the  wall 
is  plastered  over  as  in  the  former  case.  The  brea  type  Is  made 
of  bundles  of  this  shrub  fastened  against  wooden  uprights,  and 
the  outside  Is  covered  with  a  layer  of  mud  as  in  the  preceding 
types.  The  mud  adheres  to  the  brea,  and  the  whole  wall  has 
greater  flexibility  than  in  the  previous  cases.  In  the  fourth 
type  of  house  vertical  uprights  are  put  in  place ;  against  the  out- 
side Is  attached  a  layer  of  cane,  and  the  whole  covered  with 
mud.  This  type  of  wall  has  still  greater  flexibility,  but  It  Is 
necessary  to  Import  the  cane  from  Ecuador  and  Its  high  cost 
prohibits  Its  use  among  all  but  the  well-to-do. 

LInnemann  studied  the  earthquake  of  December  4,  1918, 
with  special  reference  to  the  damage  done  to  different  types  of 
structures.  The  houses  are  sixty  or  eighty  years  old  for  the 
most  part,  and  the  greater  number  are  rented.  Practically  no 
house  was  free  from  damage  of  some  kind.  But  of  a  total  of 
1630  houses  in  Coplapo,  344,  or  nearly  21  per  cent,  were  totally 
destroyed.  Of  seriously  Injured  there  were  349 ;  and  the  rest,  or 
944,  that  is  to  say  57.8  per  cent,  suffered  Injuries  of  little  im- 
portance. 


146 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


The  four  classes  of  houses  constitute  percentages  of  the  total 
as  follows:  cane,  27.2;  brea,  24.7;  adobe,  21.3;  earth,  26.8. 
There  being  little  resistance  between  the  blocks  of  earth  of  the 
last  type  and  no  restraining  uprights  of  wood,  they  move  over 
each  other  easily  in  times  of  earthquake ;  and  the  heavy  roofs, 
commonly  in  a  state  of  disrepair,  readily  fall  down.  Linne- 
mann  has  given  an  interesting  table  and  some  figures  for  the 
damage  done  to  the  four  types  in  the  quake  of  191 8,  and  I 
quote  them  in  Table  II. 

Table  II — Earthquake  Effects  on  Various  Types  of  Houses 


cane 
houses 

BREA 

HOUSES 

ADOBE 

HOUSES 

EARTHEN 
HOUSES 

num- 
ber 

PER- 
CENT- 
AGE 

NUM- 
BER 

PER- 
CENT- 
AGE 

NUM- 
BER 

PER- 
CENT- 
AGE 

NUM- 
BER 

PER- 
CENT- 
AGE 

Totally  destroyed.  .  . 
Seriously  damaged. .  . 
Slightly  damaged..  .  . 

4 

25 

417 

0.9 

5-6 
93-5 

54 

81 

290 

8.4 
20.0 
71.6 

57 
106 

188 

16.3 
30.4 

53-3 

249 
138 

53 

56.6 

314 
12.0 

446 

405 

349 

440 

Nothing  could  better  illustrate  the  practical  effects  of  earth- 
quake studies  than  the  analysis  which  Linnemann  has  made, 
for  it  shows  how  greatly  the  death  rate  can  be  cut  down  by 
insisting  upon  construction  of  the  best  sort.  It  would  be 
wise  policy  for  the  government  to  prohibit  the  making  of  the 
cheapest  class  of  house,  for  the  capital  value  of  a  family  is  far 
greater  to  a  country  than  the  difference  in  cost  between  con- 
structing a  house  made  of  earth  or  adobe  on  the  one  hand  and 
one  made  of  cane  on  the  other. 


The  Earthquake  of  1922 

On  November  11,  1922,  one  of  the  most  severe  earthquakes 
in  the  history  of  Chile  was  experienced.  Professor  Bailey 
Willis,  who  has  studied  this  earthquake  for  the  Carnegie  In- 
stitution, emphasizes  the  danger  of  the  heavy  and  rigid  earth- 
and-adobe  structures  commonly  used  in  Copiapo  and  Vallenar. 

"To  construct  a  house  that  will  withstand  an  earthquake  is 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  147 

not  difficult  if  you  can  command  the  right  materials  and  good 
carpenters,  but  during  three  hundred  years  it  has  proved  to  be 
more  than  the  unskilled  artisans  of  Chile  could  do,  handi- 
capped, as  they  have  been  by  poor  wood,  wretched  mortar, 
and  the  evil  inheritance  of  adobe  buildings.  They  used  to  put 
together  structures  that  were  pinned  with  wooden  pins  and 
tied  with  rawhide,  which  were  both  strong  and  elastic.  Some 
of  them  have  passed  through  the  earthquakes  of  the  past  cen- 
tury without  serious  damage.  The  introduction  of  iron  nails, 
which  are  so  easily  driven,  appear  to  hold  so  well,  but  in  fact 
pull  out  with  ease,  has  resulted  in  much  weaker  frames,  that 
are  quite  unequal  to  the  task  of  upholding  the  heavy  walls  and 
roofs  of  adobe.  Back  to  the  good  old  joinery  should  be  the  cry. 
Rawhide  should  be  used  if  convenience  and  cheapness  require, 
but  galvanized  fence  wire  is  better  when  skillfully  stretched  or 
tied.  And  adobe  should  be  used  only  to  fill  thin  walls,  never  in 
heavy  masses.   .   .   . 

"There  is  one  thing  about  building  to  resist  earthquakes 
that  people  seem  to  forget:  an  earthquake  can  exert  no  more 
force  to  wreck  a  building  than  is  necessary  to  overcome  the 
inertia  of  the  structure,  or  of  some  part  of  it.  A  heavy  mud- 
roof,  such  as  is  heaped  on  Chilian  houses,  will  wrack  and  ruin 
the  walls,  where  one  of  light  shingles  would  sway  with  them."^^ 

Regarding  the  earthquake  of  1922  Professor  Willis  in  a 
personal  communication  to  the  author  says  further: 

'Tt  was  felt  from  Valparaiso  to  Iquique,  a  distance  of  a  thou- 
sand miles,  disturbed  the  coastal  region  and  also  valleys  at 
altitudes  of  12,000  to  14,000  feet  in  the  Andes,  and  shook  the 
volcanic  island  of  San  Felix  500  miles  west  of  the  coast.  It  was 
not  a  very  intense  shock,  but  because  of  the  wretched  construc- 
tion of  adobe  buildings  it  killed  some  880  people  of  whom  600 
were  in  the  town  of  Vallenar  and  200  in  Copiapo.  Both  of 
these  cities  are  built  on  loose  ground  and  the  unstable  founda- 
tions had  much  to  do  with  the  destruction. 

"This  earthquake  was  accompanied  by  an  earthquake  wave 
which  was  noticed  all  along  the  coast  from  Valparaiso  to  Anto- 

°3  Earthquake-proof  Houses,  Science,  No.  1499,  Vol.  58,  1923,  September  21,  pp. 
x-xii;  reference  on  p.  xii. 


148 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


1 

1  1  1  1 

1 

1    1 

r      1/ 

^r 

' 

~~--/ 

) 

03 

o_ 

t^ 

( 

_ro 

^~\ 

\ 

3 

\ 

"5 

5  \ 

_i 

>, 

C- 

^ 

> 

\ 

o 

„a 

\ 

j£ 

Q, 

\ 

0 

^ 

-^- 

CD 

E 

^ 

o 

(5 

/ 

Q 

Cr, 

/ 

s? 

o 

\ 

_s> 

-o 

\ 

Q) 

\ 

^ 

E 

/ 

\ 

L 

o 

V 

V 

O 

-oo 

^ 

o 

<:  Q) 

CO-  i| 

CO    to    w 
ic    <p 

^  ■- 
°-< 

c 

0} 

13 

en 

/ 

) 

^-v 

o- 

E   4) 

C_3 

( 

S 

<D"S 

^^ 

\ 

\ 

-O-D 

CO 

\ 

CJC/D 

/ 

■"" 

-    [ 

^"  4 

— 

) 

C_3   13       '^ 

( 

o.y 

2> 

ID- 

52- 

-J 

UJ 

-J 

1 

r-l\ 

I- 

\ 

/ 

\ 
/ 

o 

o      o 

o 

o 

1  °     9     2 

A 

o 

tJ  g 

o      o 

o 

o 

/  o     go 

o 

o 

o      5 

o 

o 

\  °     2     o  / 

o 

o 

O         iS 

g 

in      o      u)/ 

o 

to 

1 

1          1 

1 

1 

1,77/ 

L_ 

1 

!»  r^ 

Mil 

i^ 

1  1 

II   1   II 

n^ 

T-1 

Li- 


-§    ^ 


g  ^  25 

S  nj  <" 

5  -O  _^ 

o 

C  O  C 


<     fe   TJ 


CD 
CC 

c 

be 
bo 

<D 

03 

f^  £ 

-d 

oi 

0) 

Q^ 

4-» 

■^    03 

c 

03 

03 

CD 

£ 

03 

s 

"oj 

oj 

CJ 

en 

n 

03 

OJ    ^ 

^  ° 

< 

•^ 

':!-  a 

OJ 

<U 

03 

'o 

-C 

^% 

-7-t 

-d 

(f>    J3 

rt 

c 

03 

+-* 

M  12 

c 

3 

in 

o 

u:  s 

cu 

a 

o  :z: 

<u 

-a 
c 

(L> 

Q 

Cfi 

•c«  % 

CO     >> 


0) 

Q 

43 
CJ 

5 

a 
n. 

d 

CJ 

o 

CD 

JH 

(1) 

3 

o 

r^^ 

'o 

r. 

OJ 

_d 
'o 

CJ 

-d 
a 

o) 

d 
o 

OJ 
0) 

OJ 

e 

d 

^ 

u 

o! 
en 

0) 

O 

tr 

^ 

n 

m 

O 

d 

03 

a; 

< 

,CJ 

o 

cri 

03 

'i 

en 

0) 
C 

S 

< 

a 

03 

'd- 

d 

O 

01 
J2 

hfl 

0 

n 

o 

a 

CN 

N 

(U 

o 

<j 

C) 

H 

o 

J2 

(1) 

. — 1 

■n 

4= 

' 

d 

V-. 

^ 

Ol 

03 

03 

n 

03 

o 

a 

0) 
_CJ 

o 

03 
CJ 

.s< 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  149 

fagasta  and  was  largest  in  the  bays  from  Coquimbo  to  Chafi- 
aral.  It  presented  the  usual  character  of  these  waves  in  that 
the  sea  first  withdrew  from  the  land,  sinking  away  like  an  ebb- 
ing tide  to  a  depth  of  many  feet.  The  sea  bottom  was  thus  laid 
bare  to  a  distance  from  the  shore  which  varied  with  its  slope. 
The  sea  then  returned  with  three  great  waves  which  rose  high- 
est at  the  ends  of  the  funnel-shaped  bays.  At  Coquimbo  the 
first  great  wave  reached  an  altitude  of  8  meters  and  overturned 
railway  locomotives.  Across  the  bay,  however,  at  La  Serena, 
the  height  of  the  wave  was  about  a  meter  and  a  half  only. 
Since  many  of  the  ports  along  this  part  of  the  coast  are  located 
on  low  ground  and  at  the  ends  of  the  bays,  the  damage  done  by 
the  earthquake  wave  was  considerable,  but  the  destructive 
effect  was  nevertheless  local." 


The  West  Coast  of  South  America  a  Zone  of  Fracture 
AND  Displacement 

The  first  law  of  earthquake  distribution  is  that  intensity  and 
frequency  of  shock  are  in  general  greatest  where  the  slope  of 
the  ground  is  greatest,  that  is  where  ocean  deeps  lie  close  to 
lofty  mountains.  There  Is  no  place  in  the  world  where  this 
contrast  is  so  great  in  a  given  horizontal  distance  as  off  the 
northern  coast  of  Chile.  The  cross  section.  Figure  41,  repre- 
sents the  astonishingly  abrupt  transition  from  lofty  table-land 
to  abyssal  ocean  depth  that  is  characteristic  of  the  entire  coast. 
It  represents  conditions  along  the  coast  of  northern  Chile  in 
the  vicinity  of  Taltal,  where  the  Andes,  attaining  a  height  of 
over  16,000  to  18,000  feet  (Mt.  Llullaillaco,  Figure  93,  is  over 
20,000  feet  high),  fall  off  to  the  enormous  depth  below  sea  level 
of  over  25,000  feet,  a  total  descent  of  more  than  40,000  feet  in 
175  miles,  most  of  which  (32,600  feet)  is  accomplished  in  75 
miles.  From  the  northwestern  coast  of  Peru  southward  to 
Concepcion,  in  southern  Chile,  the  4000-meter  submarine  con- 
tour is  never  more  than  125  miles  from  the  coast  and  generally 
less  than  half  that  distance  away.  We  have  here  one  of  the 
great  planes  along  which  a  major  segment  of  the  earth's  crust 
is  undergoing  adjustment;  the  line  of  movement  being  often- 


I50       •  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

times  indicated  by  earthquakes,  and  the  amount  by  geologi- 
cally "recent"  shore  forms  of  unmistakable  identity  only  mod- 
erately eroded  since  their  uplift. 

As  we  sailed  southward  from  Coloso,  with  the  land  in  view, 
there  could  be  seen  everywhere  along  the  coast  signs  of  recent 
uplift.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  necessarily  uplift  in  the  human 
period  but  in  recent  geological  times,  and  the  shells  and  marine 
debris  that  one  finds  on  some  of  the  raised  beaches  are  exactly 
like  those  that  one  may  pick  up  on  the  active  beaches  today. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Copiapo  valley  is  a  terrace  that  stands 
about  150  feet  above  sea  level  and  stretches  up  and  down  the 
coast,  appearing  to  correspond  to  the  150-foot  terrace  at  Anto- 
fagasta  and  Coloso.  Going  up  the  Copiapo  valley  one  can 
trace  the  terrace  far  inland.  Six  kilometers  from  Caldera  at 
the  station  called  Carpa  No.  i,  at  an  elevation  of  over  400  feet, 
is  a  terrace  whose  surface  is  literally  a  solid  mass  of  marine 
shells  deposited  in  hollows  of  a  rock-cut  surface — evidence 
that  the  sea  floor  and  the  land  are  here  parting  company  along 
the  edge  of  the  continent  and  that  the  uplift  of  the  land  may  be 
called  a  continuing  process.  The  actual  movement  of  the  crust 
at  the  moment  may  not  be  upward ;  the  coast  may  be  station- 
ary or  it  may  even  be  sinking,  but  the  trend  of  the  coastal 
movement  is  distinctly  upward  and  has  been  upward  in  the 
later  stages  of  geological  history. 

At  the  port  of  Paita  in  northwestern  Peru  one  may  obtain 
a  very  clear  notion  of  the  recency  of  the  crustal  movements 
that  have  affected  the  land  thereabout.  On  the  left  of  Figure 
43  a  cut  terrace  only  a  few  feet  above  sea  level  may  be  ob- 
served. It  runs  up  each  of  the  reentrants  and  rounds  all  the 
spurs  with  even  contour.  Its  materials  are  of  exactly  the  same 
sort  as  those  in  the  existing  beach  below  it,  and  the  shells  oc- 
curring in  it  are  likewise  identically  like  those  on  the  present 
shore.  It  appears  to  have  been  formed  but  yesterday,  so  fresh 
are  its  details  of  structure  and  relief.  Just  outside  the  port,  at 
the  Punta  de  Foca,  are  wider  terraces  cut  into  the  rock  as  well 
as  the  soft  sands  and  gravels  that  overlie  the  rock.  It  is  now 
being  scored  by  the  intermittent  streams  dependent  on  the  so- 
called  "seven-year  rains"  and  is  being  cut  off  on  the  seaward 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO 


151 


^SSss^ 


I'iG.  42 


-9  Z-^^. 


Fig.  43 

Fig.  42 — Coastal  terraces  at  MoUendo,  Peru.    They  extend  from  the  foot  of 
the  Coast  Range  to  the  shore,  a  distance  of  several  miles. 

Fig.  43 — Coastal  terrace  at  Paita,  Peru.    It  is  cut  in  part  in  solid  rock 


152  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

side  by  wave  action.  Its  smooth  upper  surface  in  the  inter- 
stream  areas  is  still  strewn  with  wave-rolled  material ;  and  the 
beach,  except  for  the  work  of  the  scoring  streams,  seems  as  in 
the  previous  case  to  have  been  exposed  but  yesterday. 

The  most  extraordinary  development  of  wave-cut  terraces, 
now  uplifted,  which  I  have  observed  on  the  west  coast  of  South 
America  is  that  at  the  port  of  Mollendo,  in  southern  Peru  (Fig. 
42).  The  terraces  increase  in  height  from  the  northern  part  of 
the  Peruvian  coast  and  reach  a  splendid  development  at  this 
point.  They  are  visible  at  sea  as  long,  gently-sloping,  rock 
benches  of  huge  size.  Opportunity  was  afforded  for  the  more 
detailed  examination  of  their  upper  surfaces  than  was  possible 
in  the  preceding  cases  (Paita,  Lomas,  Pisco,  Eten,  etc.),  and 
it  was  found  that  evidence  for  their  formation  by  the  sea  and 
subsequent  uplift  to  a  height  of  at  least  1500  feet  is  conclusive. 
About  the  inner  margin  of  the  terraces  are  coves  like  those 
now  seen  at  many  places  on  the  present  strand  line  or  but  a 
little  above  it.  They  are  not  so  clearly  distinguishable  as  the 
latter  because  of  the  partial  filling  or  obliteration  they  have 
suffered,  but  their  characteristic  outlines  are  still  to  be  made 
out  with  certainty.  The  whole  aspect  of  the  terraces  with  their 
regular  outlines  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  comparatively 
irregular  forms  of  the  mountain  side  above  them  where  there 
has  been  no  planing  action  by  the  sea. 

It  would  be  a  repetition  of  the  foregoing  descriptions  to  note 
the  individual  features  of  the  different  terraces  observed  along 
the  coast  farther  south;  and,  as  these  have  been  described  to 
some  extent  in  the  accompanying  list  of  papers,^"  their  de- 
scription here  is  unnecessary.  At  Iquique,  Tocopilla,  Anto- 
fagasta,  and  elsewhere,  they  are  developed  as  clearly  as  in  the 

6"  The  literature  of  the  subject  is  still  very  limited.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the 
more  important  references: 

F.  V.  Gormaz:  Depressions  and  Elevations  of  the  Southern  Archipelagoes  of  Chile, 
Scottish  Geogr.  Mag.,  Vol.  18,  1902,  pp.  14-24. 

Otto  Nordenskjold :  tJber  einige  Erzlagerstatten  der  Atacamawixste,  Bull.  Geol. 
Inst.  Univ.  of  Upsala,  Vol.  3,  1898,  pp.  343-351. 

O.  H.  Evans:  Notes  on  the  Raised  Beaches  of  Taltal  (Northern  Chile),  Quart. 
Journ.  Geol.  Sac,  Vol.  63,  1907,  pp.  64-68. 

Charles  Darwin:  Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and  Geology  of 
the  Countries  Visited  during  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle  round  the  world,  2nd  edit., 
London,  i860. 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO 


153 


Caleta  Molle 


Fig.  44 — Steep  and  in  places  precipitous  border  of  the  continent,  a  crum- 
bling coastal  wall  that  registers  the  break  between  the  land  and  the  sea  floor. 
Caleta  Molle  is  in  latitude  20°  13'  S.  The  scale  is  approximately  two  inches 
to  the  mile.  Photographed  from  the  map  of  the  Iquique  region,  Oficina  de 
Mensura  de  Tierras. 


154  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

situations  already  described.  In  each  case  the  topographic  out- 
lines are  as  clear  an  index  of  their  manner  of  formation  as  are 
the  shells  found  upon  the  terraces  at  Paita,  Camana,  and  Cal- 
dera.  Though  these  embedded  and  contemporary  shells  are 
interesting  confirmatory  evidence,  they  are  not  really  essential 
to  the  proof  of  formation  by  the  sea  and  geologically  recent  up- 
lift, for  the  topographic  evidence  is  of  a  thoroughly  conclusive 
sort. 

If  the  boldness  of  the  desert  coast  is  a  measure  of  Andean 
scenery  the  traveler  may  well  feel  that  what  lies  "behind  the 
ranges"  is  worth  crossing  the  desert  to  see.  It  is  therefore  no 
less  than  astounding  to  climb  the  steep  and  in  places  precipi- 
tous coastal  scarp  (Fig.  44)  and  find  oneself  among  tame  and 
rounded  hills  that  form  the  summit  and  eastern  border  of  the 
Coast  Range  (Fig.  94,  p.  267).  It  is  only  the  coastal  scarp  that 
is  physiographically  young;  the  Coast  Range  has  every  mark 
of  great  antiquity.  It  is  not  a  bold  mountain  range  but  the 
wreck  of  one.  It  is  one  of  the  "old  lands"  of  South  America. 
After  erosion  had  reduced  it  to  its  present  smoothly  molded 
aspect  there  came  a  time  of  profound  crustal  disturbance.  The 
floor  of  the  Pacific  broke  away  from  the  edge  of  the  continent 
and  sank  to  abyssal  depths.  At  the  same  time  the  land  rose. 
Yet  so  recently  in  geological  time  have  these  great  events 
taken  place  that  the  old  erosion  surfaces  formed  when  the  land 
was  thousands  of  feet  lower  may  still  be  seen  not  merely  on  the 
summit  of  the  Coast  Range  but  in  the  high  cordillera  itself.  It 
is  by  such  differences  of  form  and  scenery  that  the  physiog- 
rapher is  able  to  continue  the  calendar  of  the  years  where  the 
record  of  geological  deposits  is  altogether  missing. 

The  older  rocks  and  forms  show  that  the  sea  was  once  over 
what  is  now  land  and  that  the  whole  shape  and  contour  of  the 
continent  were  wholly  different  from  what  they  are  today. 
Great  masses  of  granite  were  then  intruded  into  the  coastal 
belt,  bowing  it  up  to  form  a  range  which  was  subsequently 
eroded  to  its  very  roots.  Were  we  able  to  see  a  picture  of  the 
coast  of  that  time  it  would  show  a  shore  line  probably  not  un- 
like that  of  the  Guianas  today.  That  the  old  forms  of  the  Coast 
Range  are  still  visible  and  but  little  modified  from  their  orig- 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  155 

Inal  condition  is  due  to  the  recency  of  the  break  at  the  border 
of  the  continent.  In  addition  to  broad  regional  uplift  with 
marginal  breaking  away  on  both  the  eastern  and  western 
borders,  the  continent  was  warped  or  bowed  upward  in  what 
is  now  the  cordilleran  region. 


The  Roaring  Mountain  of  Toledo 

While  inquiring  about  earthquakes  I  learned  of  their  inter- 
esting effects  upon  a  famous  mountain  near  the  village  of 
Toledo,  called  El  Bramador,  or  "The  Roarer."  It  is  a  pointed 
volcanic  mountain,  some  2000  feet  In  elevation,  standing  on 
the  edge  of  the  Coplapo  valley  about  10  miles  west  of  the  city 
of  Coplapo.  It  is  on  the  estate  of  Senor  Garay,  who  invited  me 
to  stay  at  his  ranch.  The  mountain  has  the  reputation  in  that 
vicinity  of  having  been  actually  visited  by  Darwin,  though  as  a 
matter  of  fact  Darwin  merely  mentions  the  mountain  as  fol- 
lows: 

"...  Whilst  staying  in  the  town  I  heard  an  account  from 
several  of  the  inhabitants,  of  a  hill  in  the  neighbourhood  which 
they  called  'El  Bramador,' — the  roarer  or  bellower.  I  did  not 
at  the  time  pay  sufBcient  attention  to  the  account;  but,  as  far 
as  I  understood,  the  hill  was  covered  by  sand,  and  the  noise 
was  produced  only  when  people,  by  ascending  it,  put  the  sand 
in  motion.  The  same  circumstances  are  described  in  detail  on 
the  authority  of  Seetzen  and  Ehrenberg,  as  the  cause  of  the 
sounds  which  have  been  heard  by  many  travellers  on  Mount 
Sinai  near  the  Red  Sea.  One  person  with  whom  I  conversed, 
had  himself  heard  the  noise;  he  described  It  as  very  surprising; 
and  he  distinctly  stated  that,  although  he  could  not  under- 
stand how  it  was  caused,  yet  it  was  necessary  to  set  the  sand 
rolling  down  the  acclivity.  A  horse  walking  over  dry  and 
coarse  sand,  causes  a  peculiar  chirping  noise  from  the  friction 
of  the  particles;  a  circumstance  which  I  several  times  noticed 
on  the  coast  of  Brazil. "''i 

Senor  Garay's  ranch  is  perhaps  a  thousand  feet  above  sea 
level  and  is  located  on  the  south  side  of  the  valley  on  the  low 

61  Darwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  361. 


156 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


terrace  that  fringes  the  flood  plain  of  the  river.  It  is  a  most 
prosperous-looking  place,  with  its  wide-spreading  gardens  and 
alfalfa  fields,  the  ranch  house  being  a  low,  spreading  affair  with 
an  enormous  pepper  tree  over  40  feet  in  circumference,  at  the 
corner  of  the  yard.  Seflor  Garay  has  built  three  small  dams  on 
his  hacienda,  and  these  irrigate  a  little  more  than  1000  cuadras. 


Fig.  45 — The  ranch  house  with  its  huge  pepper  tree  whose  trunk  is  over  40 
feet  in  circumference  at  Toledo,  Chile.   Hacienda  of  Senor  Garay. 


There  is  the  usual  difficulty  about  water  rights.  Here,  as  in 
Vallenar,  the  water  feuds  are  all  the  more  bitter  because  ac- 
quaintanceship is  so  intimate,  the  size  of  the  families  so  great, 
and  the  relationships  of  the  principal  families  so  complicated 
by  intermarriage.  Two  or  three  families  are  related  to  nearly 
all  the  other  important  families  in  town  or  in  the  valley. 

The  disposition  of  the  cultivated  land  in  the  haciendas  that 
line  the  river  about  Toledo  illustrates  the  manner  in  which  the 
land  is  used,  and  this  is  pictured  in  Figure  46.  In  the  middle 
distance  is  the  channel  of  the  river,  which  is  filled  with  water 
only  at  rare  intervals  of  flood.  At  all  other  times  the  river  flows 
in  low- water  channels,  or  surface  flow  ceases  altogether.  Then 
the  bed  of  the  stream  appears  a  broad,  white,  gravel-covered 
region,  extending  down  valley  and  lost  to  sight  behind  the  next 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAVO 


157 


large  spur.  On  the  banks  of  the  low-water  channel  and  for  a 
short  distance  back  of  the  bank  there  is  generally  a  wild, 
shrubby  vegetation  with  coarse  grasses  and  the  like,  such  as 
grow  in  a  zone  of  coarse  material  where  there  is  little  water 
supply.  Still  farther  back  from  the  dry  river  bed  are  the  gar- 
dens and  ranch  houses,  surrounded  by  tall,  wide-spreading 


Fig.  46 — A  cross  section  of  the  Copiapo  valley  looking  down  from  El  Bramador, 
the  Roaring  Mountain  of  Toledo. 

trees  and  courtyards,  made  of  tramped  earth  or,  in  some  cases, 
of  brick  or  paved  with  flagstones.  Back  of  the  owner's  house 
are  the  cottages  of  the  laborers,  and  there  may  be  groups  of 
these  still  farther  up  and  down  the  valley,  with  paths  and 
sometimes  paved  streets  running  between  the  outlying  groups 
and  the  owner's  house.  Then  come  the  irrigated  belts,  devoted 
principally  to  alfalfa  but  growing  some  corn  and  vegetables. 
The  outermost  zone  of  high  terraces  and  foothills  is  given  to 
patchy  cultivation  or  to  grazing.  The  higher  slopes  of  the  up- 
land are  without  important  vegetation  except  a  natural  growth 
of  drought-resisting  grasses  and  shrubs  or  the  light  green  cover 
of  grass  that  springs  up  after  rain  if  it  falls  in  several  showers. 


158 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


In  the  most  hospitable  manner  Senor  Garay  had  prepared 
not  the  simple  dinner  to  which  he  had  invited  me  at  Cdplapo 
but  a  feast,  and  it  was  served  with  such  charming  simplicity 
and  taste  that  it  has  a  high  place  in  my  abundant  recollections 
of  Hispanic-American  hospitality.  Everything  on  the  table,  he 
explained  to  me,  was  grown  upon  the  estate  and  reflected  the 


Fig.  47 — EI  Bramador,  the  Roaring  Mountain  of  Toledo,  in  the  Copiapo 
valley  below  Copiapo.  The  large  sand  dune  shown  in  Fig.  48  is  here  seen  just 
to  the  left  of  the  summit  of  the  mountain. 

abundance  and  prosperity  visible  on  every  hand  when  we  rode 
out  over  his  fields.  The  piece  de  resistance  was  a  remarkable 
arffalr.  He  had  stewed  a  fowl,  roasted  a  pig,  and  boiled  a  sheep, 
and  the  cook  had  then  put  the  fowl  in  the  pig  and  the  pig  in  the 
sheep,  making  a  compact  piece  of  meat  which,  when  skillfully 
carved,  presented  cross  sections  of  all  three  principal  parts, 
giving  one,  as  he  said,  as  interesting  a  view  of  internal  struc- 
ture as  if  it  were  a  geological  cross  section. 

From  the  hacienda  the  trail  runs  to  the  foot  of  El  Bramador, 
where  the  famous  sand  dune  is  located  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
so-called  "roaring"  of  the  mountain.  Leaving  our  riding  mules 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  159 

at  the  base,  we  climbed  a  s])ur  of  the  nKuintain  to  the  summit 
and  obtained  a  general  view  of  the  valley  (Fig.  46) .  The  upper- 
most sand  dune  extends  to  within  100  feet  of  the  summit. 
There  is  about  300  feet  difference  of  elevation  between  the  base 
and  the  top  of  the  dune  which  lies  in  a  natural  hollow  between 
two  rocky  spurs.  It  is  perhaps  500  feet  wide.  The  sand  has 
been  blown  from  the  dry  river  bed  and  valley  floor.  It  is  not 
locally  derived.  The  mountain  itself  is  made  of  a  dark  volcanic 
rock.  The  sand  is  a  light-colored  quartz  sand  like  that  which  is 
strewn  so  abundantly  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  valley  and  its 
floor.  «2 

We  walked  down  upon  the  dune  surface  without  hearing  any 
noise  whatever,  the  day  being  perfectly  quiet.  I  had  begun  to 
doubt  the  reputation  of  the  mountain,  when  I  thought  of 
starting  a  larger  mass  of  sand  in  motion  by  rocking  back  and 
forth  on  my  heels.  The  sand  is  piled  up  at  an  inclination  of  30°, 
or  about  the  "angle  of  repose,"  and  it  is  therefore  not  difficult 
to  send  considerable  masses  of  it  rolling  down  the  steep  incline. 
Started  at  the  top  a  quantity  of  sand  will  roll  at  least  halfway 
and  sometimes  the  whole  distance  down  the  dune. 

As  soon  as  I  started  a  mass  of  sand  moving  down  the  slope 
there  came  up  to  me  a  distinct  vibrating  hum  as  nearly  as  I 
can  describe  it.  It  was  about  as  loud  as  that  which  one  would 
make  in  humming  an  air  to  oneself.  When  larger  masses  of 
sand  were  detached  and  sent  rolling  down  the  incline  the  hum 
increased  in  volume,  and  the  crests  of  the  sound  waves  under 
these  circumstances  seemed  to  fall  about  a  second  apart.  I 
then  tried  pitching  stones  upon  the  surface  of  the  dune,  and 
when  these  fell  in  the  steepest  portion  so  that  sand  started 
rolling  the  same  effect  was  produced.  It  is  said  that  the  sand 
will  not  make  a  noise  when  it  is  damp  from  the  fog  of  winter. 
Though  all  of  it  was  relatively  dry,  I  was  able  to  find  some  of  it 
that  contained  a  distinct  amount  of  moisture.    On  experiment- 

0-  Comparison  may  be  made  with  the  famous  Jebel  Nagous  of  the  Desert  of  Sinai, 
the  subject  of  investigation  by  Dr.  H.  Carrington  Bolton.  Dr.  Bolton  describes  the 
dune  that  gives  forth  the  sound,  "resembling  the  lowest  bass  note  of  an  organ  with  a 
tremolo  stop,"  as  390  feet  from  top  to  bottom,  260  feet  wide  at  the  base,  and  resting  at 
an  angle  of  31°.  (H.  C.  Bolton:  Researches  on  Sonorous  Sand  in  the  Peninsula  of 
Sinai,  Proc.  Airier.  Assn.  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Vol.  38,  1889,  pp.  137-140.) 


i6o 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


ing  with  It  I  found  that  by  stroking  the  sand  with  my  hand 
downward  at  the  surface  of  the  dune  and  pressing  lightly  upon 
it  by  just  a  certain  amount  I  could  make  the  noise  every  time, 
whether  the  sand  was  hot  or  cold,  dry  or  moist.    I  carefully  ex- 


^rarjs^'i*^ 


"Vt.*    > 


Fig.  48 — Photograph  of  a  mirage  at  the  foot  of  the  huge  sand  dune  that 
flanks  El  Bramador,  or  the  Roaring  Mountain  of  Toledo,  near  Copiapo.  The 
camera  is  inclined  downward  at  an  angle  of  30°.  The  dark  slopes  of  the  rock 
spur  and  also  individual  boulders  appear  to  be  reflected  in  a  narrow  sheet  of 
water  situated  about  an  inch  above  the  lower  edge  of  the  photograph. 

perimented  with  this  with  watch  in  hand  and  found  that  the 
sand  required  stroking  15  times  in  20  seconds  to  produce  the 
efifect,  and  there  could  be  little  variation  from  this  period  with- 
out the  noise  ceasing. 

It  appears  that  wind  is  not  necessary  to  make  the  noise. 
Anything  that  starts  the  sand  rolling  will  produce  the  rhyth- 
mic humming  noise.    When  the  wind  blows  it  moves  forward 


EARTHQUAKES  AT  COPIAPO  i6i 

in  waves  that  produce  a  vibratory  effect  up(jn  the  sand  surface. 
The  noise  comes  to  one  then  in  strikingly  rhythmical  fashion. 
I  was  also  aware  of  a  distinct,  though  delicate  and  peculiar, 
vibration  which  seemed  to  come  from  the  sand  and  affected  my 
whole  body  when  I  stepped  upon  a  fresh  place  and  agitated  the 
sand  for  the  first  time.  I  do  not  know  whether  this  came  from 
the  crunching  of  dry  sand  particles  under  my  feet  or  whether 
it  is  a  matter  of  electrical  tension.  In  any  case,  I  had  no  instru- 
ments to  measure  it  and  only  record  the  impression.  The 
volume  of  the  sound  clearly  depends  on  the  state  of  the  sand, 
whether  it  is  piled  ready  to  slide  down  at  a  touch  on  the  steeper 
slopes  of  the  dune  or  whether  it  lies  on  slightly  flatter  grades. 
At  the  time  of  an  earthquake  great  masses  slide  down  over  each 
other  as  the  trembling  of  the  earth  dislodges  sand  that  the 
wind  has  piled  up  for  days  or  months  beforehand.  This  causes 
the  vibration  to  be  much  louder  and  of  longer  amplitude,  and 
it  may  then  be  heard  a  mile  or  so  away.  Naturally  this  has 
given  rise  to  superstitions  of  one  sort  and  another,  and  popular 
explanations  given  in  the  valley  are  that  the  noises  emanate 
from  caves  in  the  mountain  or  from  some  concealed  volcanic 
crater  from  which  an  eruption  may  some  day  arise. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  A  DESERT 
SETTLEMENT 

For  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  first  Spanish 
settlement  Copiapo  figured  chiefly  as  a  station  on  the  north- 
south  road,  especially  for  the  mule  trains  passing  to  Potosi, 
then  at  the  height  of  its  fame.  The  valley  produced  grain  and 
fruits  and  was  renowned  for  its  wine.  The  production  of 
this  commodity  and  the  exploitation  of  the  pastures  were  in 
fact  the  industries  upon  which  the  early  life  of  Copiapo  de- 
pended. Characteristic  both  of  the  prominence  of  the  wine- 
making  Industry  and  of  the  primitive  simplicity  of  trade  was 
the  general  use  of  the  "  arroba  of  wine  "  as  the  unit  of  currency. 
Other  considerable  Industries  were  also  related  to  wine  making. 
The  fabrication  of  wine  jars  stimulated  the  native  pottery  arts 
and  concentrated  the  Indian  population  on  the  clay-yielding 
areas.  Brea,  a  resin  obtained  from  a  small  shrub  growing  in  the 
border  zones  of  the  desert,  afforded  a  varnish  for  the  wine  and 
spirit  jars  and  was  also  exported  as  an  ingredient  of  calk  for 
ships.  Similar  uses  of  the  brea  may  be  found  on  the  northern 
extremity  of  the  great  coastal  desert.  In  the  department  of 
Piura.  The  brea  shrub  is  also  valuable  as  pasture,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  to  find  the  apparently  unattractive  "breadales"  the 
subject  of  frequent  litigation.  Besides  brea  and  wine,  sulphur, 
early  mined  in  considerable  amount,  and  copper  formed  the 
principal  commodities  of  a  small  export  trade  by  sea  that 
began  in  the  mid-seventeenth  century.  The  outlet  for  these 
products  was  Puerto  Caldera,  first  mentioned  in  the  archives 
in  1 652-1 653  when  a  boat  is  recorded  to  have  carried  310  ar- 
robas  of  wine  to  Coquimbo. 

The  First  Mining:  Gold 

In  the  early  eighteenth  century  Copiapo  was  roused  by  the 
first  indications  of  what  was  subsequently  the  most  important 

162 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT       163 

factor  in  Its  evolution — its  mineral  wealth.  The  gold  of  Co- 
piapo  had  first  attracted  the  Incas;  the  name  of  the  valley, 
indeed,  is  by  some  authorities  derived  from  the  Quechua, 
"cup  of  gold."  Yet  the  gold  of  Copiapo  was  little  worked  in  the 
early  days  when  Chile  as  a  whole  was  earning  a  great  reputa- 
tion for  gold  production. "^^  Climatic  conditions,  by  governing 
the  available  supply  of  water  for  washing,  undoubtedly  played 
a  part  in  the  retardation  of  gold  mining  in  Copiapo.  The  first 
gold  workings  were  begun  by  Hernando  de  Aguirre,  son  of  the 
conquistador.  Copper  also  was  exploited  to  some  extent,  but 
the  mining  industry  made  little  progress,  in  part  for  the  reason 
advanced  above,  in  part  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  labor 
and  of  the  vastly  superior  attractions  of  Potosi. 

In  the  early  eighteenth  century  a  change  took  place  in  the 
gold  mining  industry:  the  working  of  veins  supplemented  and 
succeeded  placer  mining.  In  Copiapo  the  new  development 
effected  a  sudden  transformation  of  the  valley  settlement. 
Rich  veins  were  discovered  at  the  old  site  of  Jesus  Maria  to  the 
north.  Copiapo  became  known  as  the  place  where  gold  was 
"extracted  by  the  basketful  and  weighed  by  the  steel-yard." 
People  came  from  far  and  near,  almost  depopulating  some  of 
the  neighboring  valleys.  From  a  wayside  oasis  Copiapo  grew 
to  the  status  of  a  town.  In  1 744  it  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
"villa"  under  the  title  San  Francisco  de  la  Selva  de  Copiapo. 

In  this  new  epoch  of  a  fuller  life  Copiapo  began  to  feel  more 
keenly  its  restricted  water  supply.  The  mines  made  heavy 
demands  on  local  resources,  and  the  slow  and  difficult  modes  of 
communication  precluded  any  considerable  importation.  Cul- 
tivation expanded  to  the  limit  of  the  water  available.  To 
increase  the  supply  was  a  difficult  matter:  it  scarcely  appears 
to  have  been  attempted,  efforts  not  going  beyond  such  meas- 
ures as  the  cleaning  and  repairing  of  canals  to  conserve  the 
existing  supply.  The  records  of  the  Copiapo  Town  Council 
present  an  extraordinarily  vivid  picture  of  the  dominant  con- 
trol exercised  by  the  water  supply.    "The  eternal  question  of 

63  Alberto  Herrmann:  La  produccion  del  oro,  plata,  i  cobre  en  Chile  desde  los 
primeros  dias  de  la  Conquista  hasta  fines  de  Agosto  de  1894,  Santiago,  1894.  The 
author  makes  a  critical  examination  of  previous  computations:  his  conclusions  as  to 
production  are  shown  graphically. 


i64  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

water  was  the  main  affair  of  life."  The  reiteration  of  the  legis- 
lative measures  becomes  wearisome ;  townsfolk  quarreled  with 
hacendados;  hacendados  with  native  Indian  cultivators;  up- 
valley  with  down-valley.  On  occasion  military  force  had  to  be 
called  in.  Changes  were  rung  on  the  details  of  the  turno  and  on 
the  suppression  of  certain  cultivations  to  the  advantage  of 
others.  But  no  permanently  effective  laws  were  enacted ;  the 
measures  were  only  expedients  of  the  moment.  Even  the  at- 
tempt of  the  able  Governor  O'Higgins  to  adjust  the  water  sup- 
ply on  a  more  equitable  basis  came  to  nothing,  and  his  attempt 
to  introduce  cotton  cultivation  likewise  failed  on  account  of 
drought. 

While  land  communications  remain  poor,  progress  was  made 
during  the  eighteenth  century  in  the  use  of  the  sea  as  a  high- 
way. This  came  largely  with  the  trade  opening  offered  to 
French  ships  as  a  result  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 
The  export  trade  of  Copiapo  was  promoted ;  Caldera  became  a 
recognized  port,''^  although  of  it  could  still  be  written  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "The  arrival  of  a  boat  was  a 
novelty,  and  Caldera,  usually  devoid  of  people  save  Changos, 
became  a  scene  of  excitement.  Merchants  then  repaired  to 
port  to  receive  their  merchandise;  citizens  prepared  to  buy 
new  goods,  foundries  despatched  bars  of  metal ;  officials  were 
in  attendance  to  certify  against  stolen  goods  and  see  that  no 
fugitive  nun,  wife  or  runaway  son  escaped. "*^^ 

The  Second  Stage:  Silver  Mining 

By  the  eighteenth  century  several  silver  mines  were  being 
worked  in  the  Copiapo  and  Coquimbo  districts,  though  few  of 
them  were  really  profitable.  The  riches  of  Potosi  and  Lipez 
strengthened  the  native  tradition  that  silver  was  generated  in 
the  "snowy  cordillera,"  and  this  diverted  attention  away  from 
the  sub-Andean  zone  that  was  to  become  the  great  silver- 
producing  region  of  Chile.  Poor  mining  methods  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  reckless  squandering  of  the  earlier  labor  sup- 

64  Avoidance  of  settlement  on  the  immediate  shore  was  long  encouraged  by  fear, 
surviving  from  earlier  days,  of  the  attacks  of  pirates  and  freebooters — "Drac"  and  his 
followers. 

65  C.  M.  Sayago:  Historia  de  Copiapo,  Copiapo,  1874,  pp.  189-190. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SPITTLEMENT        165 

ply.  Capital  was  difficult  to  secure,  and  there  were  metallurgi- 
cal problems  to  be  met.  It  was  not  until  the  nineteenth 
century  that  the  original  handicaps  were  overcome  and  the 
mineral  industry  placed  upon  a  sure  foundation.  Among  all 
the  handicaps,  that  of  climate  was  probably  most  severely  felt. 


The  Climatic  Handicap 

Farmer,  muleteer,  and  miner  were  equally  and  vitally 
affected  by  the  question  of  a  water  supply.  During  times  of 
greater  water  supply  new  routes  and  new  fields  of  exploration 
became  possible,  and  there  was  more  extensive  travel  and 
prospecting  by  muleteers  and  woodcutters  as  well  as  by  the 
cateadors  (prospectors)  themselves.  New  indications  of  the 
presence  of  ore  were  revealed  by  rain  wash  on  the  hill  slopes. 
Gilliss  reports  that  of  495  silver  mines  denounced  in  Atacama 
in  1850,  381  were  discovered  between  March  and  September, 
that  is,  in  the  rainy  season,  a  time  likewise  favorable  for  pas- 
tures for  the  prospector's  mules.  The  years  preceding  the  dis- 
covery of  Chafiarcillo  were  marked  by  unusually  heavy  rains. 

On  August  19,  1845,  the  rain  that  had  alternated  with  snows 
in  the  foothills  in  June  and  July  at  length  reached  the  valley  of 
Copiapo.  Rain  fell  during  a  period  of  five  hours,  which  was 
equal  to  a  period  of  three  hours  of  heavy  rain.  In  fact,  on  the 
cultivated  land  the  rain  was  equal  to  half  an  irrigation.  As  in 
so  many  other  instances,  the  hills  between  Copiapo  and  the 
coast  had  a  heavier  rainfall  than  the  valley.  Directly  after  the 
rain  an  expedition  was  sent  from  one  of  the  mines  to  the  port  of 
Obispito  to  explore  the  main  track  and  all  accessible  tributary 
ravines  and  thus  to  see  if  the  rainfall  had  been  sufficient  to 
start  the  vegetation  again  and  enable  the  mines  to  transport  to 
the  coast  a  large  quantity  of  ore  that  had  been  locked  up  for 
many  years  at  great  loss  for  want  of  forage  to  start  the  pack 
mules.  The  last  pack  train  to  reach  the  coast  had  made  the 
journey  in  1839,  and  it  was  natural  that  the  directors  of  the 
mine  should  feel  anxious  as  to  the  continuance  of  their  venture. 

In  October,  1845,  the  manager  of  the  Copper  Mining  Com- 
pany of  Copiapo  was  able  to  report  that  he  had  finally  con- 


i66  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

tracted  with  the  carrier  to  transport  ore  to  the  coast,  though 
only  because  of  an  understanding  that  the  contractor  had  the 
privilege  of  transporting  as  much  ore  to  the  port  of  Obispito 
(north  of  Caldera)  as  the  season  would  admit  of.  There  was  a 
stipulation  that  the  lightest  of  the  cargo  could  go  to  Obispito, 
but  the  rest  could  be  taken  to  Copiapo.  In  carrying  out  this 
contract,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  contractor  gathered 
together  a  force  of  250  mules  and  carried  3000  quintals  in 
seven  trips  lasting  from  the  13th  of  October  to  the  i6th  of 
November.  It  appears  that  a  good  deal  of  strategy  was  re- 
quired even  with  a  fair  season,  such  as  the  contractor  enjoyed 
in  this  instance,  to  prepare  the  troops  of  mules  for  the  arduous 
journey  to  the  coast.  They  were  given  three  weeks'  rest  with 
good  pasture  before  starting,  and  the  cargoes  were  carried  by 
alternating  troops,  one  troop  resting  in  some  accessible  ravine 
where  water  occurred  while  the  other  troop  was  carrying  the 
load  forward  to  the  next  stopping  place.  Even  under  these 
circumstances  the  contractor  lost  twenty  mules,  and  the  rest 
were  unfitted  for  some  time  for  further  work.  Yet  the  distance 
to  the  coast  from  the  particular  mines  involved  in  the  contract 
was  but  fourteen  leagues. 

It  seems  little  that  the  desert  dweller  asks  in  the  way  of  rain. 
In  the  valley  of  Copiapo  a  few  hours'  rain  in  May  or  June  fol- 
lowed by  a  few  hours  in  August  insures  a  good  spring ;  and  in 
former  times  it  enabled  the  ores  to  be  carried  with  facility 
from  every  quarter,  because  sufficient  water  and  wild  herbage 
would  be  encountered  for  months  afterward  on  almost  every 
trail.  When  a  favorable  season  occurred  all  the  transport 
power  was  shifted  to  mines  that  were  unfavorably  situated. 
This  was  because  ores  could  be  shipped  at  all  seasons  from  the 
port  serving  Copiapo,  but  where  shipment  was  made  from  such 
ports  as  Chanaral  and  Paposo  the  surf  and  the  prevalence  of 
westerly  winds  prevented  the  loading  of  ores  from  June  to 
September.   Even  the  month  of  May  was  considered  rather  late. 

Here  again  was  a  complication  due  to  the  circumstance  that 
these  so-called  ports  were  ports  in  name  only — merely  groups 
of  huts  inhabited  by  an  insignificant  population,  without  any 
commerce  worthy  of  the  name,  and  with  no  strategic  position 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        167 

at  the  end  of  trade  routes  to  the  interior.  The  result  was  that 
the  mining  companies  had  to  maintain  troops  and  mules  in 
readiness  for  an  emergency;  and  with  them  they  also  supported 
asses,  because  in  the  worst  seasons  and  the  worst  localities 
these  were  preferable  to  mules,  since  they  could  live  on  coarse 
wild  herbage  while  the  mules  required  alfalfa. 

Mining  Types 

The  n©madic  types  associated  with  Chilean  mining  are  in- 
teresting, for  the  usual  privations  of  a  mining  life  here  find  one 
of  their  most  intense  expressions.  The  liberal  Chilean  mining 
laws  with  their  democratization  of  mining  property  have 
favored  the  development  of  the  cateador — the  mine  pros- 
pector; the  tireless  searcher  of  the  hills,  who,  "migratory  as  the 
condor  or  huanaco,  has  the  frugality  of  the  saints  and  the 
iron  frame  of  the  conquistadores."  ^"^  In  former  days  min- 
ing owed  practically  everything  to  the  cateador  working  on 
his  own  account,  but  now  with  the  introduction  of  capital  he 
is  chiefly  engaged  on  the  account  of  others,  from  whom  he 
receives  a  share  of  his  discoveries  and  by  whom  he  is  equipped 
and  his  family  supported  in  his  absence.  He  sets  off  on  his 
journeys  supplied  with  charqui  (dried  beef),  water,  a  few  sim- 
ple tools,  and  his  own  stock  of  empirical  knowledge.  Often  he 
is  cheated  out  of  his  rightful  rewards;  and  even  if  he  is  suc- 
cessful he  will  surely  dissipate  his  fortune.  Practically  all  the 
discoverers  of  rich  mines  have  died  in  extremest  poverty. 

Isolation  and  the  predominant  part  played  by  chance  has 
saturated  Chilean  mining  with  superstition  and  tradition. 
The  derroteros,^"^  or  descriptive  plans  showing  the  locations  of 
mines,  are  fascinating  as  the  fiction  writer's  hunt  for  buried 
treasure:  the  desert  abounds  with  the  "cerro  encantado"  and 
the  "cerro  de  plata."  Resembling  the  cateador  in  many  re- 
spects is  the  desert  guide,  the  vaqueano.  He  possesses  the 
cateador's  powers  of  endurance  and  the  sense  of  topographic 
detail  that  comes  of  long  practice  and  familiarity.    His  re- 

66  B.  Vicuna  Mackenna:  El  libro  de  la  plata,  Santiago,  18S2,  p.  250.  See  also 
Ferdinand  Gautier:  Chili  et  Bolivie,  Paris,  1906. 

67  Sayago,  op.  cit.,  pp.  375-426. 


i68  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

sponse  to  the  arid  climate  with  its  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  is 
similar  to  the  Arab's;  his  two  ponchos,  the  thin  one  for  day 
travel,  the  thick  one  for  night,  corresponding  to  the  two 
weights  of  burnous.  As  in  other  primitive  industries,  where  the 
element  of  "luck"  figures  prominently,  control  by  beneficent  or 
malignant  influences  is  a  firmly  held  belief:  the  number  of 
mines  named  after  the  saints  is  significant.  The  stress  of  physi- 
cal circumstances  has  not  only  molded  the  religious  beliefs  of 
the  miner  but  has  wakened  in  him  a  poetry  of  the  desert,  an 
appreciation  of  natural  phenomena  in  somewhat  the  same  way 
that  a  seafaring  life  does.  For  the  miner  on  his  day's  work  the 
dissolving  mists  of  the  morning  are  "las  amantes  del  sol;"  the 
tiny  drops  of  dew,  so  precious  on  the  coast  hills,  "lagrimas  de 
la  Virgen."  The  appearance  of  snow  on  a  well-known  desert 
peak  is  interpreted,  "Dona  files  esta  de  novia."  "^ 

But  there  are  less  attractive  sides  to  the  mining  business. 
The  cateador  without  luck  is  apt  to  turn  cangallero,  receiver  of 
stolen  metals — in  the  old  days  a  good,  even  an  honorable,  pur- 
suit but  one  now  looked  upon  with  little  favor.  And  little  love 
is  lost  on  the  porunero,  the  speculator  who  cheats  all  alike.  In 
all  the  large  mining  camps  the  usual  abuses  have  been  present. 
The  first  silver  exploitation  in  Copiapo  was  followed  by  such 
undesirable  social  results  that  the  town  council  drew  up  pro- 
tective measures,  including  the  ringing  of  a  curfew.  The  intro- 
duction of  members  of  that  "army  of  uitlanders"  from  whom 
the  mines  are  recruited  is  unfavorably  reported  by  the  man- 
ager of  the  Copiapo  Mining  Company  in  1838.  "Before  the 
discovery  of  the  rich  silver  mines  of  Chafiarcillo  and  other  sil- 
ver mines  the  population  of  the  whole  district  of  Copiapo  was 
something  below  4000  souls,  as  docile  as  any  people  in  the 
world  but  sadly  addicted  to  laziness  and  gambling — it  has 
since  increased  to  12,000,  the  increase  of  8000  at  least  the 
men,  chiefly  consisting  of  the  most  objectionable  characters 
from  all  parts  of  Chile  and  the  Argentine  provinces  and,  from 
the  sad  mixture  during  seven  years,  the  original  inhabitants 
have  become  as  corrupt  and  reckless  as  any  of  the  newcomers." 

"  F.  J.  San  Roman:  Desierto  i  Cordilleras  de  Atacama,  2  vols.,  Santiago,  1890, 
reference  in  Vol.  I,  p.  24. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        169 

Darwin  wrote  of  the  place  in  1835:  "Every  one  seems  bent 
on  the  object  of  making  money,  and  then  migrating  as  quickly 
as  possible.  All  the  inhabitants  are  more  or  less  directly  con- 
cerned with  mines;  and  mines  and  ores  are  the  sole  subjects  of 
conversation.  Necessaries  of  all  sorts  are  extremely  dear;  as 
the  distance  from  the  town  to  the  port  is  eighteen  leagues,  and 
the  land  carriage  very  expensive,"  *^^ 

In  the  department  of  Copiapo,  according  to  the  census  of 
1875,  there  were  5058  foreigners,  or  one  to  every  five  nationals. 
Half  the  population  dwelt  in  the  "valley." ^°  Philippi  in  his 
journey  through  the  Atacama  Desert  learned  that  in  1853 
there  was  not  a  single  cura  (priest)  in  the  entire  province  of 
Atacama.  He  found  that  in  Chaiiarcillo,  with  a  population 
of  about  5000  souls,  3763  had  been  punished  by  fine  or  cor- 
poral chastisement  during  a  period  of  39  months.''^ 

The  Great  Silver  Discoveries 

The  great  silver  discoveries  commenced  in  181 1  with  that  of 
Agua  Amarga  immediately  south  of  Vallenar.'^^  ^  great  spurt 
was  given  to  the  agricultural  industry  of  the  valley;  new  canals 
were  cut,  more  land  was  put  under  cultivation,  and  the  popula- 
tion of  Vallenar  town  itself  quadrupled  in  a  short  time.  When 
Gilliss  visited  Vallenar  in  the  fifties  he  found  the  town  of  3500 
inhabitants  on  the  decline,  for  the  mines  upon  which  they  had 
been  so  largely  dependent  for  support  were  exhausted.  The 
Agua  Amarga  discovery  was  followed  in  1825  by  that  of 
Arqueros  on  the  road  from  Huasco  to  Coquimbo.  So  im- 
portant did  these   mines  prove   that  two  years  after  their 

^5  Charles  Darwin:  Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and  Geology 
of  the  Countries  Visited  during  the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  Beagle  round  the  World,  2nd 
edit.,  London,  i860,  pp.  354-355. 

'"  On  the  demography  see  an  interesting  series  of  papers  by  Dr.  Ricardo  Davila 
Boza:  Geografia  Medica:  Revista  Medica  de  Copiapo,  Bol.  de  Medicina,  Santiago, 
Vol.  3,  1886-1887,  pp.  379-384;  424-430;  479-480;  and  505-512. 

71  R.  A.  Philippi:  Viaje  al  Desierto  de  Atacama  hecho  de  orden  del  gobierno  de 
Chile  en  el  verano  1853-1854,  Halle,  i860,  p.  loi. 

'-  The  first  silver  mines  of  the  desert  worked  on  a  large  scale — because  of  proximity 
to  the  coast — -were  those  of  Huantajaya  and  Santa  Rosa,  seven  miles  from  Iquique. 
These  mines  were  discovered  in  the  sixteenth  century  but  abandoned  soon  after,  to 
be  rediscovered  and  extensively  worked  in  the  early  eighteenth  century. 


I70 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


foundation  the  government  decreed  the  foundation  of  a  mint 
in  Serena,  an  event  comparable  with  the  creation  of  an  inde- 
pendent mint  in  Nevada  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  subsequent  to  the  silver  discoveries  of  the  sixties.  The 
Agua  Amarga  and  Arqueros  mines  exercised  the  most  pro- 


FiG.  49 — Statue  of  Juan  Godoy,  discoverer  of  the  silver  mines  of  Chanarcillo, 
on  the  Alameda,  Copiapo.  The  inscription  on  the  statue  reads:  Juan  Godoy 
descubrio  el  mineral  de  Chaiiarcillo  el  19  de  Mayo  de  1832  cuya  fuente  de  riqueza 
ha  elevado  a  Copiapo  a  la  altura  y  engrandecimiento  en  que  hoy  se  halla. 

nounced  influence  on  the  Huasco  and  Coquimbo  valleys.    The 
turn  of  Copiapo  came  next. 

In  the  Alameda  of  Copiapo  stands  a  bronze  statue  of  Juan 
Godoy.  Eighteen  miles  southeast  of  the  town  on  the  old 
Huasco  road  Godoy  enjoys  a  monument  "more  lasting  than 
bronze" — the  famous  hill  of  Chanarcillo.  The  Chafiarcillo 
mines,  of  such  importance  in  the  history  of  Copiapo,  were  dis- 
covered in  1832  by  the  woodcutter  Juan  Godoy.  The  mines 
proved  extraordinarily  rich,  especially  in  masses  of  nearly  pure 
silver — one,  for  example,  weighed  6000  pounds.  In  less  than 
ten  years  the  mines  yielded  over  12,000,000  pesos.     With  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        171 

mushroom  growth  of  a  mining  center  a  town  sprang  up:  "On 
the  plain  beneath,  the  village  or  town  of  the  Placilla,  or  Juan 
Godoi,  is  flourishing,  .  .  .  upward  to  the  very  summit  of  the 
hill,  which  is  about  4500  feet  above  the  sea,  the  whole  steep 
scarp  appears  studded  with  immense  steps  of  debris,  with  huge 
buttresses  to  support  them ;  these  are  the  mouths  of  the  vari- 
ous mines.  Perched  on  these  resting-places  are  discerned  the 
numberless  houses,  huts,  and  other  belongings  of  each  '  min- 
eral,' and  the  whole  mountain  seems  covered  with  them," 
•wrote  Colonel  Lloyd  in  1853." 

Sixteen  years  later  (1848)  a  muleteer  carrying  ores  between 
Copiapo  and  the  port  of  Flamenco  discovered  Tres  Puntas. 
Lloyd  has  given  graphic  descriptions  of  the  hardships  en- 
countered, here  as  elsewhere  in  the  Chilean  desert,  from  the 
scarcity  of  water.  At  first  no  water  was  known  within  thirty 
leagues  of  the  mines,  and  a  9-gallon  cask  of  brackish  water 
cost  $8.  Subsequently  drinkable  water  was  found  in  wells  five 
and  ten  leagues  from  the  mines  and  retailed  for  one-eighth  of 
the  original  price.  Yet  in  five  years  there  had  sprung  up  a 
town  of  4000  souls. 

The  latest  of  the  great  silver  discoveries  was  that  of  Cara- 
coles, a  traditional  "cerro  de  plata"  effectively  brought  to 
light  in  1870.  Caracoles  lies  on  the  road  from  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama  to  Antofagasta  in  the  hilly  basin  west  of  the  Cordil- 
lera Domeyko.  Although  at  an  elevation  of  3000  meters 
(10,000  feet)  precipitation  is  extremely  light.  At  the  end  of 
the  rainy  season  of  the  plateau,  that  is  towards  the  end  of 
April,  an  occasional  cloud  may  detach  itself  from  the  masses 
that  gather  round  the  summits  of  the  cordillera  and  produce 
precipitation,  usually  in  the  form  of  snow  but  so  slight  that  it 
evaporates  without  producing  any  effect  upon  the  ground. ^^ 

In  the  extent  of  its  widespread  influence  Caracoles  was 
perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  discoveries.  Its  progress 
has  been  described  in  detail.''^    In  1870  Caracoles  was  simply  a 

'3  J.  A.  Lloyd:  The  Mines  of  Copiapo,  Journ.  Royal  Geogr.  Soc,  Vol.  23,  1853,  pp, 
196-212;  reference  on  p.  199. 

'••Felipe  Labastie:  Estudio  sobre  el  mineral  de  Caracoles,  Santiago,  1901. 

"Andre  Bresson:  Bolivia,  Paris,  1886,  pp.  300  et  seq. 

A.  Pesse:  Le  district  minier  de  Caracoles,  Bol.  Soc.  Geogr.  de  Paris,  Ser.  6,  Vol.  7, 
1874,  pp.  177-181. 


172  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

house  of  loose  stones  and  a  tent.  In  1871  it  began  to  be  a 
village,  chiefly  of  tents  of  wretched  appearance.  In  1872  there 
were  2000  inhabitants,  and  houses  were  being  built  of  wood  or 
galvanized  iron;  streets  were  well  aligned.  In  1873  commercial 
houses  on  the  coast  established  branches  here,  hotels  were 
erected,  and  the  streets  paved.  In  1874  it  was  a  well-ordered 
town  of  2500  in  the  center  of  a  fast-growing  district.  Yet  in 
nothing  was  the  town  self-supporting.  The  nearest  source  of 
drinking  water  was  the  wells  of  Aguadas  Dulces  12  kilometers 
(7  miles)  to  the  northeast,  whence  it  was  brought  daily  by  cart. 
San  Pedro  de  Atacama  and  other  towns  of  the  western  slope  of 
the  Cordillera  provided  firewood  and  fruits  and  some  meat; 
cattle  and  fodder  came  over  the  cordillera  from  Argentina. 
Calama  also  sent  fodder.  Other  things  came  by  Antofagasta, 
the  nearest  port  and  the  one  whence  the  ore  was  shipped. 

The  cost  of  transportation  was  tremendous  in  any  direction. 
It  is  said  that  from  the  coast  to  the  mines  the  freight  charges 
were  double  those  by  steamer  from  the  port  to  Europe.  The 
scale  of  traffic  under  these  circumstances  can  be  appreciated 
from  the  fact  that  at  the  height  of  prosperity  1500  carts, 
each  drawn  by  5  to  6  mules,  were  regularly  employed  between 
Caracoles  and  Antofagasta.  There  was  a  notable  distinction 
between  the  journeys  on  the  uphill  and  downhill  grades: 
whereas  the  former  took  4  to  6  days  the  latter  took  only  3  to  4. 

The  mining  men  at  Copiapo  refer  facetiously  to  a  place  at 
some  distance  as  25  leagues  up  the  valley  and  4  leagues  down. 
Uphill  and  downhill  rates  differ  greatly  in  almost  all  countries 
where  there  is  primitive  transportation.  It  is  estimated  that 
the  cost  of  downhill  traffic  to  Puquios,  where  the  Dulcinea 
Mine  ships  its  copper  ore,  is  to  the  uphill  traffic  cost  as  two  is 
to  three.  The  flux  being  near  the  station  to  which  they  ship 
their  matte,  there  is  provided  cargo  both  ways. 

Copper  Mining 

The  first  copper  mining  in  Chile,  apart  from  pre-Spanish 
mining,  was  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  artillery  for  coast 
defense.     In  1600  Garcia  Ramon  was  not  permitted  to  carry 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        173 

cannon  with  him  from  Pern  to  Chile,  for  the  latter  country  had 
abundant  raw  material.  In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  copper  was  shipped  from  Coquimbo — and  less  exten- 
sively from  Copiapo — to  Callao.  Though  nothing  came  of  it, 
a  proposal  was  made  to  establish  an  arsenal  at  the  former 
place  because  of  its  greater  accessibility  to  fuel.  By  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century  many  mines  had  been  denounced  and 
exploited,  especially  in  the  province  of  Coquimbo,  but  only  the 
richest  could  be  worked  for  any  length  of  time :  only  those  so 
rich  as  to  yield  at  least  fifty  per  cent  refined  copper,  says 
Molina.^" 

The  influences  coming  into  operation  after  the  Revolution 
had  as  marked  effects  on  copper  mining  as  on  silver.  The 
market  was  enlarged,  the  price  of  copper  raised,  and  the  cost 
of  production  diminished.  The  diminution  in  the  working  ex- 
penses was  chiefly  due  to  the  reduced  prices  of  all  commodities 
needed  for  the  mines.  Means  of  exportation  improved  also. 
Ships  formerly  bringing  imports  and  returning  in  ballast 
began  to  find  cargoes.  For  a  time  the  triangular  movement 
to  the  Orient  was  encouraged,  although  the  Calcutta  trade 
was  dropped  in  1835.  American  vessels  bound  for  China  called 
at  Valparaiso  for  copper.  If  they  were  unable  to  complete 
their  shipload  at  this  port  they  proceeded  farther  north  to 
Huasco  and  Copiapo."  Ships  sailing  to  Buenos  Aires  and 
unable  to  obtain  cargoes  began  to  round  the  Horn  to  Chile. 
The  time  (1840)  was  ripe  for  the  introduction  of  steam  naviga- 
tion. As  early  as  1829  Wheelwright  had  established  a  regular 
line  of  sailing  vessels  between  Valparaiso  and  Cobija.  The 
Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company  was  founded  in  1838,  and 
the  first  two  steamers  started  running  two  years  later  between 
Valparaiso  and  Callao.  In  1846  the  line  was  extended  to 
Panama,  where  connection  was  made  with  Royal  Mail  steam- 
ers on  the  Atlantic  side.  In  1868  the  line  to  Liverpool  was 
inaugurated.  Incidentally,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing fuel,  the  steam  navigation  stimulated  exploitation  of  the 
coal  mines  of  southern  Chile. 

76  G.  I.  Molina:  Saggio  suUa  storia  naturale  del  Chili,  Bologna,  1782. 
'7  Three  Years  in  the  Pacific,  1831-1834,  by  an  Officer  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
2  vols.,  London,  1835. 


174 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMa 


The  introduction  of  the  new  navigation  contributed  much 
to  the  regulation  of  shipping.  Previously  transportation  had 
suffered  exceedingly  from  irregularity.  Thus  we  are  told  that 
in  1824  Coquimbo  was  a  wretched  and  dilapidated  place,  the 
harbor  being  desolate  save  for  an  occasional  whaler  or  coaster 
and  a  casual  vessel  to  take  in  copper.  ^^  Diego  de  Almeido  told 
Philippi  that  he  made  his  first  shipment  of  copper  from 
Chanaral  las  Animas  by  a  whaleboat  that  chanced  to  put  in 
the  bay  for  water, '^^  Freight  charges  had  likewise  been  vari- 
able. When  much  shipping  happened  on  the  coast,  freights 
went  down;  when  little,  they  rose. 

Another  element  that  stimulated  Chilean  trade,  both  by 
carrying  trafftc  round  the  Horn  and  by  creating  a  new  market, 
was  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  The  golden  "afios  de 
California"  are  still  a  grateful  memory.  Chilean  wheat  was 
carried  north  and  sold  at  high  profits.  Mackenna  relates^" 
that  he  himself  sold  in  1853  a  100  kilogram  sack  of  wheat  for 
150  francs  in  San  Francisco,  when  its  original  cost  in  Chile  had 
been  62  francs.  Ships  making  the  return  journey  carried 
copper,  for  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  copper  period. 


The  Copper  Period  in  Copiapo 

The  following  figures,  representing  mines  worked,  indicate 
the  mid-century  trend  of  Chilean  mining,  typically  illustrated 
by  the  department  of  Copiapo  to  which  the  figures  pertain :  ^^ 


1806 

1850 

1853 

1866 

Gold 

13 

6 

17 

0 

Silver 

7 

235 

509 

177 

Copper 

4 

14 

116 

199 

The  effect  of  this  development  on  the  general  progress  of  the 
country  may  be  gauged  by  the  trade  figures  of  the  time.     In 

'8  Thomas  Sutcliffe:  Sixteen  Years  in  Chile  and  Peru  from  1822  to  1839,  London, 
1841,  p.  105. 

'9  Philippi,  op.  cit.,  p.  12. 

80  B.  Vicuna  Mackenna:  Le  Chili,  Paris,  1855,  p.  55. 

81  P.  L.  Cuadra:  Jeografia  fisica  i  politica  de  Chile,  Anales  Univ.  de  Chile,  Sdcntiago, 
Vol.  31,  1868. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        175 

1864  the  foreign  and  domestic  commerce  of  Atacama,  amount- 
ing to  over  $20,000,000,  represented  20  per  cent  of  the  total  for 
the  entire  country,  whereas  the  population  represented  only 
4  per  cent.  The  foreign  import  trade  was  distributed  almost 
exclusively  between  Argentina,  63  per  cent,  and  Britain,  23  per 
cent.  The  chief  commodities  sent  by  the  former  were  cattle 
($529,999)  and  mules  ($49,000),  from  the  latter,  coal  ($198,- 
500).  The  foreign  export  trade  was  practically  all  with  Britain 
(92  per  cent),  North  America  taking  6  per  cent.  Caldera  was 
the  center  of  this  trade.  With  its  dependent  ports,  that  is,  the 
points  on  the  coast  where  copper  was  shipped,  it  accounted  for 
four  times  as  great  a  volume  of  trade  as  Huasco  and  its  minor 
ports,  in  both  cases  the  trade  through  the  inland  "ports"  of  the 
Cordillera  being  included.  Although  the  population  was  low  in 
proportion  to  the  area,  it  showed  a  remarkable  increase  over 
earlier  figures.  Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
population  of  the  partidos  (of  the.  bishopric  of  Santiago)  of 
Copiapo  and  Huasco  had  been  estimated  at  8000.  The  census 
of  1865  credits  the  Province  of  Atacama  with  a  total  of  77,453, 
the  highest  attained  (see  Table  III).  In  that  year  Copiapo 
town  numbered  13,381,  also  a  maximum. 


Table  III — Population  of  the  Province  of  Atacama  According 
TO  Successive  Censuses 


Departments 

1865 

1875 

1885 

1895 

1907 

1920 

Chanaral 

Copiapo 

Freirina 

4,425 
44,670 
14,912 
13,446 

4,961 

35,807 
15,541 
13,569 

5,558 
29,705 
13,434 
15,446 

4,321 
26,310 
12,868 
16,214 

6,057 

27,315 
12,722 

17,874 

5,149 
20,689 

6,480 
16.0QS 

Vallenar 

Province 

77,453 

69,878 

64,143 

59,713 

63,968 

48,413 

Among  the  principal  results  of  the  mining  activities  were  the 
creation  of  a  new  economic  movement  and  of  a  new  means 
towards  movement.  As  the  foregoing  has  shown,  transporta- 
tion was  one  of  the  most  serious  problems  in  the  development 
of  the  mines.  The  mines  of  the  Copiapo  region  had  to  provide 
their  own  means  of  conveyance.  In  this  roadless,  well-nigh 
waterless,  country  their  choice  was  limited  to  the  hardy  en- 


176  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

during  mule  or  the  less  powerful  but  even  more  abstemious 
burro.  Supply  of  these  animals  had  to  be  replenished  con- 
stantly, for  under  the  hard  conditions  of  desert  work  they  are 
very  short-lived.  Argentina  is  the  great  basis  of  supply  not 
only  for  this  means  of  transportation  but  also  for  one  of  the 
important  food  requirements  of  the  mines — cattle,  a  commod- 
ity that  can  move  itself  to  market.  Cattle  also  come  from  the 
south  of  Chile.  As  far  north  as  the  Coquimbo  valleys  it  is  com- 
mon to  find  the  large  farmers  with  two  complementary  farms 
— the  small,  irrigated,  intensively  cultivated  hacienda  in  the 
lower  valley  and  the  range,  or  estancia,  on  the  mountain  spurs 
with  pasture  dependent  on  rain.  Cattle  from  the  estancia  are 
brought  down  to  the  hacienda  for  a  few  months'  fattening  be- 
fore shipment  north  to  the  mines.  Farther  north  the  oases  of 
both  the  desert  and  the  puna  carry  on  a  like  profitable  business 
with  cattle  brought  across  the  cordillera.  Huasco,  Vallenar, 
Copiapo,  Calama,  San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  all  derive  an  im- 
portant income  from  the  system  of  talaje  as  it  is  called. 

The  Copiapo  Railroad 

The  mines  first  brought  the  railroad  to  Chile.  The  Caldera- 
Copiapo  line,  fifty  miles  long,  built  by  William  Wheelwright, 
was  the  first  important  line  to  be  constructed  in  South  Amer- 
ica.^^  It  was  opened  to  traffic  on  December  28,  1851.  Subse- 
quently the  line  was  extended  to  Chafiarcillo,  and  its  builder 
projected  its  continuance  as  a  trasandine  line  to  Rosario  on 
the  Parana.  In  pointing  out  the  advantages  of  such  a  line  he 
gives  an  interesting  example  of  the  costs  of  transportation 
involved  from  the  cordillera  to  the  plain.  Salt  from  the  inter- 
cordilleran  salars  is  sold  in  Copiapo  at  $250  a  hundred  pounds. 
He  estimates  that  it  could  be  delivered  at  Los  Chilenos,  a 
point  on  the  projected  line,  for  50  cents,  and  thence  "the  ac- 
tion of  gravity  alone  would  take  it  to  Copiapo  on  the  rail- 
road." ^^     The  opening  of  the  railroad  brought  about  distribu- 

82  The  oldest  line  on  the  continent  is  the  Georgetown  line,  British  Guiana,  opened 
1848;  it  is  only  5  miles  long.  The  Lima-Callao  line,  another  short  line,  comes  second, 
having  been  opehed  in  April,  185 1. 

83  William  Wheelwright:  Proposed  Railway  Route  across  the  Andes,  Journ.  Royal 
Geogr.  Soc,  Vol.  31,  1861,  pp.  155-162;  reference  on  p.  160. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        177 


Fig.  50 — Photographic  copy  of  map  attached  to  a  letter  dated  April  30,  1835, 
from  George  Bingley,  manager  for  the  Copiapo  Mining  Company,  to  the  directors 
in  London  (see  p.  181).  Upon  the  original  the  four  black  areas  are  colored  green 
and  from  smallest  to  largest  are  named  in  order  as  follows:  Mercado,  Malpaso, 
Nantoco,  and  Tortoradillo.  Upon  the  largest  is  written  also  "Estates  of  Potrero 
Seco  and  La  Puerta."  They  are  alfalfa  meadows  and  ranches,  or  so-called  chacras. 
The  mines  are  colored  red  upon  the  original,  and  a  seacoast  strip  and  border  frame 
are  colored  blue.  One  port.  Flamenco,  near  Chaiiaral,  is  written  in  by  hand,  and 
the  last  four  letters  are  blurred.     The  scale  is  half  that  of  the  original. 


1 78  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

tional  changes  in  the  lower  valley.  Caldera,  once  the  port  of 
Copiapo,  had  fallen  into  disrepute  and  had  been  replaced  by  a 
port  at  the  mouth  of  the  Copiapo  valley.  Now  Caldera  was 
resurrected,  Puerto  Viejo  being  abandoned  in  its  turn.  Cal- 
dera with  50  people  in  1850  had  2000  in  1853.  With  the  pass- 
ing of  the  mining  booms  towards  the  end  of  the  century  Cal- 
dera again  declined,  and  now,  in  spite  of  its  fine  natural  harbor, 
a  rare  feature  on  the  North  Chilean  coast,  it  is  of  little  impor- 
tance with  only  2000  inhabitants. 

Another  interesting  response  to  the  railroad  was  the  drop  in 
the  value  of  land  that  followed  its  construction.  Until  the 
nitrate  development  in  the  north  began  to  make  its  heavy 
demands  on  the  products  of  the  northern  valleys,  property  in 
the  Copiapo  valley  had  realized  its  highest  values  in  the  decade 
before  the  opening  of  the  railroad  transformed  the  means  and 
costs  of  transportation.  Cuadra  cites  the  case  of  a  piece  of  land 
near  Copiapo  about  an  acre  in  extent  from  which  the  annual 
value  of  the  forage  averaged  $800.  Gilliss  also  instances  a 
price  of  $4000  paid  for  the  alfalfa  cut  from  less  than  four  acres, 
though  this  was  in  a  dry  year  (1850). 

The  opening  of  the  Copiapo  railroad  was  an  important  event 
for  the  Dulcinea  Mine  of  the  Copiapo  Mining  Company.  It 
released  mules  from  the  Copiapo-Caldera  transit  for  service 
between  the  mine  and  the  town.  This  was  the  more  difftcult 
stretch,  however,  for  the  roads  were  much  worse,  a  fact  re- 
flected in  the  carriage  rates  between  the  two  sections  which  in 
the  early  days  were  in  the  ratio  of  1 1  to  16.  Greater  advantages 
accrued  from  the  continuance  of  the  line  in  1871  to  Puquios, 
only  a  few  miles  from  the  mine.  The  more  northerly  group  of 
Las  Animas  gained  likewise  from  the  opening  (1870)  of  the 
line  from  the  Bay  of  Chailaral  and  the  branches  subsequently 
built.  84 

The  famous  Dulcinea  Mine  is  at  an  elevation  of  6600  feet 
and  has  a  maximum  depth  of  3600  feet.  Since  the  recent 
installation  of  a  smelter  at  the  mine,  ores  have  been  worked 
down  to  7  per  cent  assay  or  less  where  previously  10  to  15 

8^  J.  G.  Matta:  Bosquejo  del  estado  actual  de  la  industria  minera  del  cobre  en  el 
estranjero  i  en  Chile,  Soc.  Nacl.  de  Mineria,  Santiago,  1915. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SPITTLEMENT        179 


.*^:i!f 


Fig.  51 


Fig.  52 

Fig.  51 — Looking  west  at  the  desert  ranges  between  Puquios  and  the  Pacific 
coast,  near  the  Dulcinea  Mine. 

Fig.  52 — The  smelter  at  the  Dulcinea  Mine  near  Puquios,  northeast  of  Copiapo. 


i8o  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

per  cent  was  required. ^'^  The  production  per  month  in  1913 
averaged  2000  tons  of  ore.  In  former  days  ore  was  sent  to 
Swansea,  on  the  western  edge  of  the  South  Wales  coal  field. 
It  Is  now  sent  to  New  York  chiefly.  A  few  other  productive 
mines  exist  in  the  vicinity  of  the  railroad,  but  there  are  also  a 
considerable  number  today  paralyzed  by  high  freight  rates 
that  could  be  profitably  worked  If  in  touch  with  a  railroad. 
The  small  mines  suffer,  too,  from  lack  of  capital  to  tide  over 
bad  seasons.  This  Is  one  reason  why  the  Copiapo  Mining 
Company  has  been  able  to  establish  the  unique  record  of  a 
continuous  existence  for  a  century.  Furthermore,  the  small 
mine  Is  extinguished  by  a  fall  in  the  market.  Capital  Is  the 
chief  hope  for  revival  of  the  industry  that  attained  Its  maxi- 
mum development  In  1876. 

Overshadowing  the  smaller  operations  once  characteristic  of 
Chilean  mining  are  the  great  copper  mines  of  Braden,  south  of 
Santiago,  and  of  Chuquicamata,  near  Calama.  Deposits  of  ore 
of  mountainous  proportions  are  worked  in  both  places  by 
modern  mining  and  metallurgical  plants  representing  an  In- 
vestment of  capital  on  a  large  scale.  The  technical  methods 
employed  enable  the  use  of  low-grade  ores,  and  the  scale  of 
the  enterprise  supports  a  lay-out  of  roads,  railways,  and  port 
facilities  which  the  scattered  and  smaller  mines  of  earlier  years 
could  not  command. 


The  Record  of  a  Hundred  Years 

At  Copiapo  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  discover  a  great  mass 
of  burled  treasure  In  the  form  of  records  and  correspondence 
extending  over  almost  a  hundred  years,  and  pertaining  to  the 
affairs  of  the  Copiapo  valley  and  especially  the  business  of  the 
principal  copper  mining  company  here.  The  present  name  of 
the  company  Is  "The  Copper  Mines  of  Copiapo,  Ltd."  In  the 
early  days  of  its  history  it  was  called  "The  Copiapo  Mining 

85  Singewald  and  Miller  give  the  instance  of  the  Esploradora  Mine  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Chafiaral,  where  the  product  shipped  in  1913  averaged  20  per  cent  copper. 
"  More  than  75,000  tons  of  7  to  8  per  cent  copper  ores  remain  in  the  dumps."  The  ores 
have  to  be  hauled  125  miles  by  cart.  (B.  L.  Miller  and  J.  T.  Singewald,  Jr.:  The  Min- 
eral Deposits  of  South  America,  New  York,  1919,  p.  253.) 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        i8i 

Company."  Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  F.  N.  Perkins,  the 
General  Manager  of  the  mine,  I  was  permitted  to  examine  the 
contents  of  forty  or  fifty  large  wooden  l)oxes  which  contained 
bundles  of  letters  and  records  the  originals  of  which  had  been 
sent  to  the  directors  of  the  company  in  London.  The  discovery 
of  the  material  was  particularly  fortunate  because  the  succes- 
sive general  managers  or  superintendents  of  the  copper  mines 
appear  to  have  been  exceptionally  intelligent  men,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  reporting  on  the  mining  properties  they  were  of 
necessity  obliged  to  report  upon  the  state  of  the  river,  the 
occurrence  of  rains  and  unusual  snowstorms,  damages  done  by 
flood  and  drought,  the  condition  of  the  trails  and  the  pastures 
and  springs  along  them,  the  state  of  the  ports,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  land  transportation  and  shipping. 

For  a  long  period  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  a 
Mr.  Bingley  was  general  manager  of  the  company,  and  his 
descriptions  are  of  the  greatest  geographical  and  historical 
interest.  He  is  quoted  by  Darwin,  whose  paragraphs  clearly 
reflect  the  quality  of  the  correspondence:  "I  had  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  Mr.  Bingley,  who  received  me  very  kindly  at 
the  Hacienda  of  Potrero  Seco."^*'  In  many  letters  long  ac- 
counts of  the  country  and  the  people  are  interspersed  with 
more  technical  matters.  It  was  clear  that  the  explanations  he 
gave  were  of  great  value  to  the  directors  of  the  company  in 
London,  for  upon  them  could  be  based  explanations  to  the 
stockholders,  particularly  of  the  unsuccessful  years.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  reasons  the  company  had  during  part  of  its  his- 
tory to  supply  its  own  transport  mules  and  manage  the  con- 
veyance of  its  ores  to  the  coast  and  their  shipment  overseas. 
Whatever  the  state  of  the  pastures  in  the  valley  and  whatever 
difhculties  there  were  over  water  rights  would  naturally  be 
touched  upon  because  they  bore  not  only  upon  the  principal 
business  of  the  company  but  also  upon  the  subsidiary  business 
of  farming  and  grazing  carried  on  to  maintain  the  means  of 
transport. 

As  the  population  increased  and  transport  conditions  im- 

86  Charles  Darwin:  Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  Historj'  and  Geology 
of  the  Countries  Visited  during  the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  Beagle  round  the  World,  2nd 
edit.,  London,  i860,  p.  350. 


i82  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

proved,  and  particularly  after  the  building  of  the  railway  line 
in  1 85 1,  the  effect  of  natural  conditions  upon  the  mining  inter- 
ests and  more  especially  upon  agricultural  and  grazing  inter- 
ests received  less  and  less  attention  in  the  reports  of  the  suc- 
cessive general  managers  of  the  mines;  and  in  the  last  few 
decades  the  reports  become  constantly  briefer  as  difficulties 
are  taken  for  granted  and  as  modern  machinery  is  introduced 
to  solve  many  of  the  other  difficulties  under  which  mining  was 
conducted  in  this  frontier  province.  The  effect  of  natural  con- 
ditions is  still  felt,  but  they  are  made  less  of  by  business  enter- 
prise. The  officers  of  a  mining  company  today  look  at  the 
production  of  ore  rather  than  study  the  environment  in  which 
the  men  work  who  produce  the  ore.  The  modern  view  is  that 
the  only  important  thing  is  the  actual  output  of  the  mine — all 
the  rest  is  detail  which  the  general  manager  must  handle  as 
best  he  can. 

Having  in  mind  the  frequency  of  earthquakes  and  the  ac- 
companying risk  of  damage  by  fire,  I  felt  it  wise  to  make  an 
abstract  of  much  of  the  correspondence.  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  violent  and  destructive  earthquake  of  1922  left 
these  old  records  intact  or  whether  they  have  since  been  de- 
stroyed ;  but  the  originals,  many  of  them  containing  maps  re- 
ferred to  in  the  notes,  have  recently  been  destroyed  by  the 
home  company  in  London  on  account  of  lack  of  space.  I  took 
twenty-five  pages  of  notes,  and  these  I  have  deposited  in  the 
archives  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  where  they 
may  be  consulted.  While  many  of  the  data  in  these  notes  have 
been  worked  into  the  ensuing  narrative  and  description,  there 
are  additional  details  in  the  notes  that  might  be  of  interest  to 
historical  students.  I  will  give  a  few  selected  illustrations 
merely  to  indicate  the  quality  of  the  material. 

After  a  discussion  of  the  struggle  which  took  place  in  1862 
for  water  rights  and  comments  on  the  rich  harvest  that  the 
lawyers  expected  to  reap  and  on  the  old  documents  and  still 
older  traditions  regarding  water  rights,  the  directors  are  in- 
formed in  a  letter  dated  April  2,  1862,  as  follows: 

"When  we  consider  the  immense  value  of  the  water  in  these 
deserts  and  that  in  a  few  hours,  more  or  less,  of  irrigation 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        183 

monthly  the  value  of  an  estate  rises  or  falls  thousands  of 
dollars,  the  eagerness  with  which  these  questions  are  debated 
may  be  pardoned." 

There  are  comments  on  the  cattle  trade,  the  pasturing  of 
flocks  and  herds  afield,  on  the  revoluion  of  1851,  the  year  in 
which  the  railroad  came  to  Copiapo,  and  the  effects  of  the  War 
of  the  Pacific  (i 879-1 883)  upon  business  and  the  cattle  trade 
generally.  Thus  in  1879,  the  year  in  which  the  war  began,  few 
cattle  came  over  the  cordillera  because  the  dealers  were  selling 
more  profitably  to  the  armies  in  the  north.  A  Peruvian  squad- 
ron was  reported  to  have  cruised  along  the  coast  in  the  latter 
part  of  July  and  to  have  destroyed  the  launches,  used  in 
lightering  cargoes  from  ship  to  shore,  at  Taltal,  Pan  de  Azucar, 
Chanaral,  Carrizal,  and  Huasco  and  to  have  been  kept  off 
Caldera  on  account  of  the  guns  established  there  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  port.  There  is  an  account  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  port  was  changed  from  its  old  location  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Copiapo  River  to  its  new  location  at  Caldera.  It  seems 
as  if  every  important  shower  was  reported  in  the  correspond- 
ence. It  was  noted  that  Welsh  miners  were  imported  and  that 
the  beginnings  of  steam  navigation  on  the  west  coast  gave 
great  stability  to  shipping  hitherto  most  irregular  in  quantity 
and  availability,  the  ores  being  accumulated  at  the  ports  and 
shipped  whenever  empty  vessels  called.  Rarely  was  a  boat 
sent  over  for  the  express  purpose  of  bringing  back  ore,  as  in 
later  times. 

Not  the  least  interesting  entry  is  one  under  date  of  February 
16,  1844,  in  which  the  manager  points  out  the  popular  belief  in 
Copiapo  at  that  time  that  the  English  were  heretics  and  only 
the  people  of  South  America  were  Christians.  A  native  of 
Copiapo  accused  of  a  fraud  against  an  English  house  at  Val- 
paraiso presented  an  escrito,  or  writing,  to  the  court  which 
insisted  that  the  testimony  against  him  of  two  persons,  being 
English  and  consequently  heretics,  amounted  to  nothing,  for 
it  was  made  against  himself,  a  Cristiano,  and  cited  legal 
precedence  in  support  of  his  position — more  than  a  faint  echo 
of  two  and  three  centuries  before. 

An  old  map  without  date  was  attached  to  one  of  the  letters 


1 84 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


written  by  George  Bingley  to  Messrs.  Robert  Scott  Fairlie  and 
Company  of  London  and  dated  April  30,  1835,  so  that  the  map 
cannot  be  more  recent  than  the  date  of  the  letter,  and  there  is 
evidence  that  it  is  older  than  the  letter,  for  the  name  Flamenco, 
one  of  the  tiny  copper  exporting  ports  of  the  coast,  is  inked  in 


Very 
Heavy 


T        T 

i        1 


1870 


1880 


1890 


1900 


1910 


Fig.  53 — Rains  at  Copiapo  are  shown  by  a  solid  line.  The  heavy  line  indicates 
figures  from  the  continuous  series  of  official  meteorological  records.  The  light  line 
indicates  deductions  from  records  of  the  Copiapo  Mining  Company,  the  Anales 
de  la  Universidad  de  Chile,  the  Historia  de  Copiapo,  and  other  sources.  The 
dashed  line  shows  the  rainfall  of  Piura  deduced  from  various  historical  sources 
by  Victor  Eguiguren  (Las  lluvias  en  Piura,  Bol.  Soc.  Geogr.  de  Lima,  Vol.  4, 
1895).     Floods  in  Tarapaca  are  indicated  by  the  letter  T. 

on  the  map  instead  of  being  printed  like  the  rest  (Fig.  50). 
The  border  of  the  map  is  colored  green  by  means  of  a  wash 
applied  by  hand.  A  similar  wash  of  blue  was  laid  over  the 
border  of  the  sea  and  over  a  few  supposed  lakes  near  Huasco. 
Four  irrigated  farms  of  the  copper  company  on  the  Copiapo 
River  are  colored  dark  green.  The  company's  mining  proper- 
ties are  indicated  by  colored  squares,  and  the  names  are  under- 


INFLUENCE  OF  MINING  ON  SETTLEMENT        185 

scored  in  red  ink.  An  interesting  feature  of  the  map  is  the 
position  of  the  northern  boundary  line  of  Chile,  which  is  placed 
at  about  latitude  25°  30'  S. 

Upon  the  basis  of  the  wet  years  reported  in  the  correspond- 
ence over  a  period  of  nearly  one  hundred  years  I  made  a  rough 
"curve"  to  bring  out  the  period  of  recurrence  of  the  rains 
(Fig.  53).  The  general  manager  of  the  chief  mining  company 
expressed  great  interest  in  the  curve  showing  past  conditions 
but  still  greater  interest  in  the  next  rainy  season.  Far  from 
being  above  the  need  of  such  knowledge,  he  said  he  was  as 
interested  as  any  of  his  predecessors,  first  on  account  of  the 
forage  required  for  the  mules  that  hauled  the  matte  carts  to 
the  railroad  and  brought  ore  from  the  small  mines  round- 
about to  the  smelter  operated  by  his  company  at  the  Dulcinea 
Mine,  and  second  because  he  was  drilling  a  well  to  tap  the 
ground  water  in  the  small  basin  whose  exit  is  near  the  smelter. 
The  lack  of  water  had  been  one  of  the  standing  difficulties  in 
the  successful  operation  of  the  mine.  At  a  venture  I  projected 
the  rainfall  curve  and  told  him  that  19 14  ought  to  be  a  wet 
year.    A  year  later,  in  June,  1914,  he  wrote  me  as  follows: 

"You  will  be  pleased  to  learn  that  your  prognostications 
.  .  .  have  now  been  confirmed.  The  Copiapo  River  has  been 
very  swollen,  the  greatest  amount  of  water  within  the  last 
fourteen  years,  while  on  the  15th  inst.  the  Copiapo  district 
had  the  benefit  of  a  copious  rainfall.  This  information  to 
you  will  have  great  scientific  interest — to  us  great  benefits 
will  ensue." 


CHAPTER  IX 

EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS 

Approach  Across  the  Argentine  Pampas 

Where  the  plains  or  pampas  of  Argentina  break  with  the 
mountain  country  on  the  northwest  we  find  the  life  a  curious 
blend  of  the  frontier  and  of  long-established  conditions,  as  if 
all  the  settlements  were  breaking  out  of  one  age  into  another. 
The  oldest  Spanish  settlements  in  Argentina  were  made  in 
these  remote  northern  valleys  at  the  border  of  the  plain,  yet 
the  region  seems  today  a  border  country  like  our  West  when 
railroad  building  was  at  its  height.  It  is  only  in  the  last  two 
decades  that  the  high  pastures  of  the  upper  mountain  slopes 
and  valleys  and  basins  have  been  intensively  developed. 
Traffic  has  been  carried  on  by  primitive  means  that  prevailed 
from  the  beginnings  of  Spanish  settlement.  Even  the  oxcart 
is  absent  from  most  lines  of  communication.  Here  for  four 
hundred  years  the  pack  mule  has  been  the  chief  dependence 
of  the  merchant.  Towns  old  in  history,  important  in  trade, 
repeatedly  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  the  past  four  centuries 
have  still  no  means  of  communication  with  the  outside  world 
except  such  as  the  mule  and  the  burro  afford.  The  contrast 
between  old  and  new  is  not  alone  in  the  valleys  on  the  moun- 
tain border,  it  extends  into  the  plain.  Where  the  streams 
from  the  higher  country  spread  their  waters  and  their  rock 
debris  out  over  the  edge  of  the  flat  land  of  pampa,  sugar 
estates  have  been  developed  and  towns,  the  leading  centers  of 
the  region,  like  Catamarca,  Andalgala,  Tucuman,  Salta,  and 
Jujuy.  And  these  too  have  a  life  as  strikingly  changeful  as  if 
their  founding  were  a  modern  event  instead  of  a  fact  four  cen- 
turies past. 

To  take  the  route  to  the  northwestern  frontier  from  the 
Plata  is  to  discover  some  new  things  by  the  way.  On  leaving 
Buenos  Aires  the  railroad  passes  through  typical  pampa — not 

1 86 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS  187 

flat  but  gently  rolling.  Groves  dot  the  plain  so  that  half  the 
horizon  or  more  is  filled  with  them,  much  as  the  woodland 
clumps  in  our  Middle  West  fill  the  horizon,  only  the  groves  are 
thinner  and  more  distant.  They  encircle  all  of  the  ranch 
houses  and  occasionally  there  are  stands  in  the  open.  On  leav- 
ing Rosario  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  the  groves  become 
smaller  and  farther  apart,  so  that  the  horizon  is  rarely  inter- 
rupted by  them.  Instead  of  complete  flatness,  the  pampa  has 
great  swells  and  alternating  broad  depressions,  and  a  narrow 
belt  just  below  the  horizon  is  marked  by  delicately  merging 
profiles.  Standing  at  the  crest  of  a  gentle  ascent  and  looking 
up  it  toward  the  horizon  one  sees  a  belt  of  plain  occupied  by  a 
single  field,  strong  in  its  details  of  wire  fence,  clumps  of  trees, 
rows  of  corn,  or  groups  of  cattle.  Above  and  beyond  that  is  the 
field  in  profile,  and  beyond  this  profile  a  gap.  The  next  basin 
or  shallow-valley  rim  that  comes  into  the  narrow  belt  of  pro- 
files just  under  the  horizon  is  very  distant  and  faint,  and  on  it 
and  succeeding  profiles  up  to  the  horizon  itself  are  abundant 
though  dimly  seen  details  of  houses  and  clumps  of  trees,  but 
the  cattle  and  rows  of  corn  are  lost  in  all  but  the  nearest  slope. 
It  is  this  contrast  in  the  clearness  of  the  details  between  two 
succeeding  profiles  seen  almost  edge  to  edge  close  to  the  hori- 
zon that  makes  the  pampa  seem  so  vast.  There  is  no  high 
relief  to  break  the  view,  so  that  profile  succeeds  profile  in 
seemingly  endless  fashion. 

The  true  grassy  pampas,  wild,  and  bearing  natural  clumps 
of  grass,  with  a  little  bare  earth  here  and  there,  appear  still 
farther  west  and  north  on  the  way  to  Tucuman.  They  are 
dusty,  quite  without  trees  except  near  the  horizon  where  there 
is  a  stream  or  a  settlement.  Approaching  nearer  the  base 
of  the  mountains  bright  green  sugar-cane  fields  come  into 
view,  irrigating  ditches,  then  the  houses  of  the  hacendados  of 
Tucuman.  Above  the  town  and  along  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tains runs  a  belt  of  dark  green  chaparral  and  woodland — the 
monte.  It  consists  of  cedar,  algarrobo,  and  quebracho,  with 
cactus  here  and  there,  and  other  species  of  plants.  It  becomes 
dense  and  the  trees  large  and  valuable  on  the  higher  slopes, 
and  lumber,  railroad  ties,  beams,  and  the  like,  are  produced. 


1 88  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Woodland  mantles  the  mountain  slopes  for  hundreds  of  miles 
toward  the  north,  where  it  merges  into  the  Chaco  gallery 
forest,  and  extends  also  toward  the  south,  where  it  ends  in 
patches  and  narrow  belts  as  the  mountains  become  corre- 
spondingly dry  in  that  direction  (Fig.  86,  p.  253). 

A  Cross  Section  of  Argentine  Life 

To  go  from  Buenos  Aires  with  its  forest  of  spars  in  crowded 
ship  basins,  its  beautiful  plazas  and  avenues,  and  its  modern 
facilities  of  every  kind,  out  across  the  pampas  to  the  city  of 
Tucuman  with  its  sugar  industries  and  then  up  into  the  forest 
country  and  above  it  to  the  pasture  land  of  the  mountain 
zone,  finally  to  reach  the  primitive  habitations  in  the  secluded 
valleys  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  is  to  see  in  cross  section  the 
life  of  Argentina.  As  a  geographical  picture  it  is  unrivaled. 
It  is,  above  all,  a  strongly  featured  section  of  life  but  little 
disturbed  by  eddies  and  cross  currents  such  as  one  may  see  in 
the  life  of  the  United  States.  Argentina  has  no  coal  fields, 
and  but  very  little  oil  has  been  discovered  up  to  this  time.  Its 
forests  are  without  exception  in  distant  places.  Their  woods 
are  of  relatively  little  value  for  building  purposes;  they  could 
not  begin  to  supply  the  demand  for  lumber  on  the  pampas  and 
in  the  cities  of  the  coast.  Lumber  and  timber  are  imported 
from  Scandinavia  and  from  California,  Oregon,  and  Washing- 
ton. Lumber  is  one  of  the  principal  items  of  trade  at  the  port 
of  Buenos  Aires.  Argentina,  still  for  the  most  part  in  the  ex- 
tractive stage  of  industry,  has  no  manufacturing  belt  like  Eng- 
land, the  United  States,  Germany,  and  France,  where  groups 
of  distinctive  industries  have  been  developed  in  close  associa- 
tion with  supporting  mineral  resources.  Cornfields,  wheat- 
fields,  alfalfa  fields,  fenced  range,  and  after  that  open  country 
of  little  value,  semiarid  as  to  climate ;  meager  as  to  resources — 
this  is  the  succession  as  one  leaves  the  coastal  towns.  Then 
comes  the  mountain  border  of  the  plain,  where  irrigation 
brightens  the  landscape — a  fertile  belt,  rich,  specialized, 
accessible  from  the  plain  yet  fed  with  water  from  the  moun- 
tains.    The  sugar  belt  of  Argentina  is  here.     It  runs  from 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS  189 

Cordoba  northward  in  spots  and  patches  past  Tucuman  to 
Ledesma  and  well  toward  the  Bermejo  River  and  in  time  will 
probably  extend  in  like  belts  and  patches  along  the  foot  of 
the  Andes  all  the  way  to  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra  in  eastern 
Bolivia  and  even  beyond.  There  is  a  similar  belt  in  the  se- 
cluded valleys  of  eastern  Peru  at  relatively  low  elevations 
where  "playa"  lands  along  the  valley  floors  can  be  irrigated 
from  the  mountain  streams.  ^^ 

The  mountains  of  northwestern  Argentina  together  with 
the  high  border  valleys  constitute  a  type  of  country  totally 
different  from  that  of  the  pampas  border.  In  a  narrow  zone 
one  may  pass  in  a  few  days  from  warm  valleys  at  4000  feet  to 
Andean  ranges  at  16,000  feet,  through  the  belt  of  irrigation 
to  the  belt  of  woodland,  the  belt  of  grasses,  and  finally  to  bar- 
ren mountain  slopes  and  rock  slides.  The  distinctive  products 
of  the  high  valleys  and  mountain  pastures  include  skins,  wool, 
blankets,  wood.  These  come  down  in  long  pack  trains  to  the 
bordering  towns  at  almost  all  seasons  of  the  year.  I  saw  them 
in  June  above  Molinos  on  the  trail  down  the  Escoipe  ravine 
(Fig.  59).  They  were  loaded  with  skins  chiefly  and  with  habas, 
a  vegetable  which  is  about  twice  as  large  as  a  bean  and  shaped 
somewhat  like  it  and  which  was  selling  in  Salta  at  $1.80  per 
10  kilos  (22  lbs.).  It  is  shipped  to  Buenos  Aires  annually  in 
large  quantities.  Goatskins  formed  part  of  the  mule  cargo. 
They  brought  $1.50  per  kilo.  From  forty-five  to  eighty  thou- 
sand and  more  kilos  a  year  are  shipped  out  of  the  single  valley 
of  Calchaqui.  From  the  whole  province  of  Salta  it  is  estimated 
that  300,000  pesos  in  value  of  goatskins  are  exported.  They 
constitute  the  item  first  in  value  in  the  whole  province.  Next 
come  corn,  potatoes,  habas,  and  peas. 

Many  families  once  poor  landowners  with  large  but  low- 
value  estates  in  the  mountain  valleys  of  northwestern  Argen- 
tina are  now  rich  city  dwellers.  This  is  a  phenomenon  com- 
mon enough  in  the  eastern  agricultural  provinces  of  Argentina, 
but  it  is  of  recent  development  in  the  mountain  provinces  and 
in  some  cases  is  due  to  quite  different  stimuli:  the  railroad,  the 

8'  See  the  regional  diagram  of  the  eastern  aspect  of  the  Cordillera  Vilcapampa,  in 
the  writer's    "Andes  of  Southern  Peru,"  New  York,  1916,  p.  68. 


190 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


< 


Q 

cr 
o 
o 

Li_ 

o 
cc 

LJ 
Q 

O 

m 


cr 
Ld 

h- 
co 

< 

LJ 


liJ 

o 

N 

a_ 
o 
cc 
u 

Q 
< 

UJ 

_l 
UJ 

or 

Li_ 

o 

z: 
o 

C/D 
O 
Q_ 
^ 
O 
O 


i-U 

^ 

-T3 

0) 

D. 

o 

o 

c 

o 

o 

n 

"S 

^ 

N 

03 

^ 

C/3 

^ 

c 

D 

^ 

nj 

.5? 

"oj 

en 

.22 

'[Z 

Xi 

-3 

jr 

-a 

jj 

■$ 

c5 

'o 

-v 

o 

c 

'V 

OJ 

_o 

o 

< 

c 

Q. 

j:: 

S 

tn 

c 

m5 

3 

-o 

00 

0) 

tfi 

C 

£i 

J3 

<LI 

03 

■J-> 

1-. 
3 

tn 

3 

>. 

.S 

bfl  ^ 

a 

'c3 
d 

3 

o 

-a 

0) 
3 

s 

c 
o 

O 

OJ 

u 

tn 

J= 

.ti 

_(C 

•2. 

'o 

'o 

01 

-a 

cfi 

a 

2 

OJ 

o3 

-u 

4-" 

^ 

-T3 

"cB 

OJ 

C 

^•5 


■-D   o 


0)  m  • 

o  -t->  *-< 

-a  nJ  "d 

^  Vh  Ui 

s  -^  ° 

_2  ^  ^ 

O  ~  .!3 

o  2  ^ 

>  O  3 

o  'C  o 

L-  /T^  •-• 


-C     OJ     C 


r  ^        r 

fe     3       U^ 


O     cti 


EASTERN  B0RDI<:R  TOWNS  191 

growing  nitrate  industry  in  Chile  whicli  draws  thither  an 
important  transmontane  trade,'  the  more  rapid  development 
of  mining  since  the  introduction  of  the  railroad,  and  a  host  of 
minor  and  local  causes. 


Salta:  a  Frontier  Town 

Because  it  is  the  capital  of  the  province  in  which  these 
economic  changes  have  been  most  marked,  Salta  has  been 
transformed  in  the  last  twenty  years.  From  a  mountain  vil- 
lage it  has  developed  into  a  fair-sized  city.  The  population  of 
the  city  according  to  the  census  of  1895  was  16,672;  the  last 
census  gives  28,436,  of  whom  4505  are  aliens.  The  Departa- 
mento  of  the  capital  had  16,887  in  1869;  20,361  in  1895;  33,636 
in  1 9 14.  Salta's  people  were  once  untraveled,  and  its  streets 
were  filled  with  pack  trains  bearing  supplies  that  were  in  large 
part  bartered  rather  than  sold.  Even  its  merchandise  only  a 
few  decades  ago  came  largely  from  across  the  Cordillera,  where 
Chilean  railroads  gave  easier  access  to  important  commercial 
routes.  Now  it  has  a  street-car  line,  big  business  houses,  at 
least  four  large  banks,  and  a  considerable  number  of  really 
modern  dwellings.  He  who  has  visited  Europe  is  no  longer 
pointed  out  as  a  distinguished  person.  The  dresses  of  the 
women  are  nearly  as  modest  as  those  to  be  seen  on  the  streets 
of  New  York.  One  of  the  most  elegant  clubhouses  in  Argentina 
faces  the  well-kept  plaza.  The  life  of  the  people  in  a  score  of 
ways  has  taken  on  a  degree  of  comfort  and  luxury  hitherto 
almost  unknown. 

Salta  lies  on  the  floor  of  an  intermont  basin  (just  under  4000 
feet  above  sea  level)  between  two  streams  bordered  by  marshy 
tracts,  or  tagaretes,  crossed  by  selected  roadways.  It  is  not  at 
the  end  of  the  railway.  This  extends  still  farther  west  and 
south  to  the  terminal  station  of  Rosario  de  Lerma,  a  little  town 
of  slight  commercial  consequence  with  no  modern  merchan- 
dising facilities.  It  is  at  Salta  that  the  business  of  the  railway 
has  its  first  marked  development.  There  is  first  of  all  the  ex- 
change of  commodities  as  in  any  frontier  town  on  the  border  of 
two  unlike  regions.    Flour  is  brought  from  Buenos  Aires,  sugar 


192  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

from  the  estates  along  the  mountain  border.  Tobacco  is  ob- 
tained from  the  surrounding  fields;  brandy  is  imported  from 
the  sugar  refineries;  wine,  rice,  and  building  materials  come 
from  outside  the  district.  The  basin  floor  has  a  wealth  of  corn- 
fields to  feed  the  live  stock  bred  in  the  basin  and  imported 
from  the  Gran  Chaco — the  grassy  plains  country  of  north- 
eastern Argentina  and  the  region  northward.  Alfalfa  is  also 
produced  to  support  the  stock-raising  industry.  Cattle  from 
the  Chaco  are  turned  into  the  alfalfa  meadows  and  cornfields 
to  be  fattened  for  the  journey  over  the  cordillera  to  the  nitrate 
oficinas  or  establishments  of  Chile;  the  staple  product  of 
Salta,  now,  as  for  the  past  three  centuries,  being  live  stock,  a 
typical  frontier  product.  Though  the  Lerma  basin  floor  is 
intensively  cultivated  wherever  drainage  conditions  make  cul- 
tivation possible,  and  though  it  has  thus  every  appearance  of 
fertility,  the  soil  is  much  underdeveloped  and  could  be  greatly 
improved  by  better  drainage  and  better  irrigation  methods. 
Only  one  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  the  province  is  under  cul- 
tivation. It  is  this  aspect,  as  well  as  the  character  of  the  trade 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  conducted,  that  gives  Salta  a 
characteristic  frontier  appearance.  As  a  further  mark  of  its 
frontier  character,  there  still  remains  the  great  fair,  which  an- 
nually meets  in  July  and  which  was  held  formerly  in  the  town 
and  now  is  held  twenty  miles  or  so  to  the  south  at  Sumalao.®^ 

Mule  Trade  and  Transport 

It  was  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  that  the 
great  fair  of  Salta  won  its  most  substantial  reputation.  The 
stock  bred  in  vast  numbers  on  the  pampas  of  the  Plata  country 

88  G.  M.  Wrigley:  Salta,  an  Early  Commercial  Center  of  Argentina,  Geogr.  Rev., 
Vol.  2,  1916,  pp.  116-133. 


Plate  2A  (opposite)  represents  the  Rosario  de  Lerma  sheet  of  the  Mapa 
Geologico-Economico  de  la  Republica  Argentina,  1919,  scale  1:200,000,  reduced 
and  simplified.  The  map  shows  the  character  of  the  eastern  border  of  the  moun- 
tains. Plate  2B  is  the  lower  right-hand  corner  of  the  upper  map  enlarged  to 
show  drainage,  irrigation,  and  towns  in  detail.  The  shaded  area  represents 
cultivated  land. 


Desert  Trails  of  Atacama. 


Amen  Geogr.  Soc.Sp.  Publ.  No.  5,  1923,  Pl3te2. 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS  193 

was  disposed  of  in  two  ways.  The  cattle  were  \'alued  chiefly 
for  their  liides,  and  for  a  time  their  hones  also  had  considerable 
value.  Their  use  for  meat  and  milk  was  local  and  insignificant. 
The  rest  of  the  live  stock  consisted  chiefly  of  horses  and  mules, 
and  of  these  the  mules  were  by  far  the  most  important.  They 
were  bred  not  for  shipment  overseas  but  for  use  in  Upper  Peru 
(now  Bolivia)  where  there  had  grown  up  a  number  of  notable 
Spanish  towns  dependent  on  mining.  Their  great  elevation — 
nearly  half  the  existing  towns  of  Bolivia  lie  at  elevations  ex- 
ceeding 12,000  feet^^ — made  life  hard  not  merely  for  man  but 
also  for  his  beasts.  The  mines  were  worked  in  a  primitive  man- 
ner, the  towns  associated  with  them  were  at  elevations  so  great 
as  to  limit  forage  crops.  When  we  consider  the  primitive  min- 
ing organization  of  that  time  we  can  realize  that  a  town  like 
Potosi,  at  an  elevation  of  13,388  feet  and  with  a  population  by 
1650  of  160,000,  must  have  required  a  horde  of  mules  to  per- 
form the  labor  of  handling  the  ore,  crushing  it,  transporting 
the  refined  product,  bringing  in  merchandise,  and  for  the  trans- 
portation of  stagecoaches,  and  for  use  as  riding  beasts.  Be- 
tween the  mining  towns  of  the  altiplano  and  the  cities  of  the 
agricultural  basins  and  valleys  of  the  east  like  Cochabamba, 
Sucre  and  Tupiza,  and  of  the  coast  valleys  like  Arequipa,  there 
was  a  constant  interchange  of  products,  agricultural  on  the  one 
hand  and  mineral  on  the  other.  Even  today  with  the  railroad 
to  Cochabamba,  La  Paz,  Oruro,  and  Potosi,  streams  of  cargo 
mules  continue  to  come  in  from  the  tributary  towns  and  val- 
leys; and  llama  trains  likewise  and  two-wheeled  carts,  for  the 
cost  of  carriage  on  the  railroad  limits  transportation  on  it  to 
vital  necessities  and  luxuries — what  we  might  call  the  over- 
head business  of  a  region  served  by  a  principal  town.  Wher- 
ever there  are  low  wages  and  abundant  forage,  transportation 
by  pack  mules  in  charge  of  a  muleteer  is  cheaper  than  the  rail- 
road, and  of  course  such  transportation  is  still  the  main 
dependence  for  feeding  the  railroad. 

In  addition  to  the  interchange  of  products  over  the  highland 
trails  there  was  also  the  transportation  of  minerals  to  the 

5'  Isaiah  Bowman:  The  Distribution  of  Population  in  Bolivia,  Bull.  Geogr.  Soc.  of 
Philadelphia,  Vol.  7,  1909,  pp.  74-93. 


194  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

coast.  For  centuries  this  has  laid  upon  both  man  and  beast 
the  heavy  necessity  of  making  such  use  of  natural  resources 
as  they  could.  There  were  high  mountains  to  cross,  difficult 
streams  to  ford ;  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  there  was  drought 
so  severe  that  water  for  stock  was  hard  to  find,  at  others  the 
streams  were  in  flood;  and  the  extremes  of  weather  encoun- 
tered— the  hailstorms  and  occasional  snowstorms  of  the  Cordil- 
lera, the  dust  storms  and  burning  salars  of  the  high  basins — all 
required  the  hardiest  types  of  animals.  The  mule  is  not 
only  well  adapted  to  this  service  but  is  economical  in  that  it 
has  learned  to  forage  at  night  for  its  food.  It  may  be  driven 
across  the  most  inhospitable  country  in  South  America,  brows- 
ing only  on  dried  grass  and  bushes  and  perhaps  a  little  green 
stuff  carried  with  the  cargo  and  some  dried  corn  or  preferably 
barley.  It  will  live  and  work  under  these  circumstances  where 
a  horse  would  die.  Only  the  llama,  the  native  beast  of  burden, 
can  be  compared  to  it  for  hardiness,  and  the  llama  is  unable 
to  carry  heavy  loads  or  to  cover  distances  rapidly.  After  a 
severe  journey  the  mule  is  rested  and  well  fed  for  such  time  as 
it  requires  to  regain  its  strength  and  to  be  in  condition  to 
undertake  the  next  journey. 

The  source  of  the  mule  supply  for  the  plateau  was  the  Plata 
region.  Between  the  two  there  was,  on  the  one  hand,  a  broken 
mountain  country  in  places  thinly  inhabited,  in  places  cold 
and  barren;  and,  on  the  other,  wide  arid  pampas,  where  good 
cattle  pasture  was  found  only  at  places  widely  separated  and 
attained  by  crossing  rivers,  sometimes  in  flood,  sometimes 
entirely  dry.  The  times  and  the  seasons  of  rain  were  reflected 
in  a  periodic  traffic,  and  this  naturally  led  to  the  development 
of  the  live-stock  fairs  at  selected  points,  where  buyer  and  seller 
could  meet  and  conduct  their  business  in  short  order  and  re- 
turn home  again. 

The  journey  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Peru  was  accomplished  in 
three  stages,  the  first  to  Cordoba,  where  in  the  rainy  season 
(November  to  March)  water  and  pasture  were  to  be  had  in 
abundance.  There  the  troops  were  pastured  for  some  months. 
In  April  they  set  out  on  the  second  stage  of  their  journey. 
They  were  organized  into  troops  of  1300  or  1400  head  in  charge 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS 


195 


V-  ■  ■ "- ;    -'.  ■ 

V    .-\ 

»gt*--'i'_-'*^  7  -    J'-. 

":-  A^ 

-    ■       .'-  ^    -m 

-   A' 


k:^ 


V-*  V 


.«*^  --'J^ .:" 


A 


S^7^,'^. 


^ 


Fig.  56 


Fig.  57 

Fig.  56 — A  settlement  in  the  montana.  The  rain  is  here  sufficient  to  produce 
crops  without  irrigation.  Cloud  and  fog  are  common.  Note  the  drapery  of  moss 
on  the  large  tree  at  the  left. 

Fig.  57 — The  ranch  house  at  Finca  Santa  Lucia,  southwest  of  Rosario  de  Lerma, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Escoipe  ravine. 


196  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  twenty  men  and  seventy  horses,  and  they  aimed  to  reach 
Salta  not  later  than  the  end  of  June  so  as  to  make  the  journey 
after  the  subsidence  of  the  summer  floods  and  before  the 
period  of  drought.  In  the  Salta  basin  the  mules  were  pastured 
until  fair  time,  which  began  early  in  February  and  lasted 
throughout  March.  Dealers  from  the  pampas  here  disposed 
of  as  many  as  60,000  mules  alone,  without  including  horses  and 
cattle. 

The  Peruvian  buyers  made  up  their  troops  of  mules,  and  the 
muleteers  started  on  the  mountain  journey — the  third  and 
last  stage.  They  knew  the  places  of  pasture  on  the  mountain 
slopes  and  in  the  valleys  and  exported  troops  of  1700  to  1800 
head  in  charge  of  two  bands  of  horsemen,  one  to  drive  the 
mules  and  look  after  the  camp  arrangements,  a  second  to 
prevent  straying.  Thus  were  the  mules  driven  by  slow  stages 
to  the  markets  of  the  plateau,  Oruro,  Corporaca,  and  Jauja. 
Oruro  was  the  center  of  a  mining  district  of  Upper  Peru,  and 
it  has  retained  its  strategic  relation  to  the  mines  down  to  the 
present.  Corporaca  is  south  of  Cuzco  and  served  a  great  cen- 
tral zone.  Jauja  is  near  the  silver  mines  of  Cerro  de  Pasco  and 
the  quicksilver  of  Huancavelica  and  on  the  royal  road  to  Lima 
and  the  coast  valleys.  Ulloa  says  that  25,000  to  35,000  mules 
were  pastured  on  the  meadows  of  Canas,  on  the  Tablada  de 
Corporaca,  and  there  sold  in  the  great  annual  fair.^° 

A  change  in  the  status  of  Buenos  Aires  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century  (compare  pp.  107-108)  effected  a  note- 
worthy decline  in  the  traffic  between  the  Plata  provinces  and 
Upper  Peru,  with  corresponding  effects  on  all  the  way  stations 
along  the  great  trail  connecting  these  distant  South  Atlantic 
settlements  with  Lima  on  the  Pacific  slope.  There  was  the 
decline  in  the  output  of  silver  from  the  Bolivian  mines,  and 
there  was  also  the  break  in  the  economic  dependence  of  Buenos 
Aires  upon  Peru,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  was  made  a 
viceroyalty  in  1776  and  granted  the  privilege  of  free  trade  in 
1778.  Traffic  over  the  land  routes  immediately  diminished, 
the  security  of  the  route  was  no  longer  guaranteed  by  effective 

"Antonio  de  Ulloa  and  Jorge  Juan:  Relacion  historica  del  viaje  a  la  America 
Meridionale,  Madrid,  1748. 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS 


197 


Fig.  59 


.  >.i 


Fig.  58 — -The  Escoipe  ravine  near  the  upper  limit  of  the  montaiia,  or  woodland. 
The  workmen  are  clearing  the  stream  bed  of  large  stones,  an  annual  task.  A  part 
of  the  stream  bed  is  a  natural  highway  which  requires  but  minor  improvements. 

Fig.  59 — Pack  train  in  the  Escoipe  ravine  southwest  of  Rosario  de  Lerma.  The 
mules  are  loaded  with  skins  and  hides  in  transport  from  the  Calchaqui  valley  to 
the  railway  at  Rosario. 


198 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


outposts  against  the  depredations  of  the  Pampas  and  Chaco 
Indians,  and  these  heavy  handicaps  were  not  removed  entirely 
until  the  final  subjugation  of  the  Pampas  Indians  by  General 
Roca  in  his  famous  campaign  of  1878. 


Fig.  60 — The  last  outliers  at  the  upper  margin  of  the 
woodland  that  clothes  the  eastern  flanks  of  the  Andes  west 
of  Salta.  Excellent  pastures  are  interspersed  with  patches 
of  woodland  in  this  upper  zone.  The  raising  of  sheep  and 
goats  is  a  major  industr>'. 


Salta  As  a  Route  Station 

When  the  Wars  of  Liberation  were  ended  Salta  was  left  in 
a  distressful  state.  The  merchants  had  suffered  through  the 
suspension  of  trade,  the  campaigns  themselves  had  fallen  as  a 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS  199 

heavy  l)ur(lc'n  upon  the  frontier  towns  which  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  royalist  attacks  from  the  plateau,  and  the  live-stock 
trade,  the  old  source  of  supply  and  demand,  the  old  relation- 
ships, the  system  of  markets  and  fairs,  had  been  badly  dis- 
organized. There  were  a  few  sugar  estates,  there  was  a  local 
trade  with  neighboring  valleys  and  basins;  that  was  about  all. 
By  slow  stages  the  former  commerce  was  partly  restored.  The 
need  of  mules  in  Bolivia  and  Peru  continued  to  be  met  by 
the  herds  upon  the  Argentine  pampas.  By  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  copper  mines  of  Chile  were  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition  and  made  a  demand  upon  Argentine  live  stock 
similar  to  that  which  the  mines  of  Upper  Peru  had  made 
In  the  two  centuries  before.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  nitrate  fields  of  Chile  began  their  period  of  large 
output,  and  the  effect  of  these  two  great  mineral  developments 
on  the  Chilean  side  of  the  cordillera  was  felt  in  every  town 
along  the  eastern  front  of  the  Andes  in  Argentina.  Laborers 
migrated  to  the  Chilean  fields,  trade  sprang  up  on  all  the  con- 
necting trails,  Chilean  currency  began  to  circulate  freely  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  mountains,  and  the  economic  condition  of 
the  border  towns  steadily  improved.  With  the  steady  increase 
of  population  on  the  pampas  of  Argentina  and  in  the  coast 
towns  there  was  a  constantly  increasing  demand  for  all  sorts 
of  raw  materials  from  every  outlying  place  where  commercial 
facilities  were  sufficient  to  attract  the  resources  roundabout. 

As  the  interior  towns  grew  and  travel  between  them  and  the 
coast  ports  increased  through  the  extension  of  the  railways, 
a  taste  for  goods  of  foreign  manufacture  was  acquired.  Coca 
from  Bolivia  and  mate  from  the  Chaco  were  brought  into 
northern  Argentina  In  large  quantities.  A  steady  stream  of 
wool,  goat  and  kid  skins,  hides  and  leather  went  from  the 
northwest  provinces  to  Buenos  Aires,  and  with  the  develop- 
ment of  overseas  trade  In  meat  and  meat  products  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  refrigerating  plants  of  the  Plata  region  was  felt 
even  in  these  remoter  districts,  so  that  today  an  item  of  in- 
creasing importance  is  the  export  of  cattle  to  the  plants  along 
the  Parana  and  Plata. 

The  early  colonial  route  to  Bolivia  and  Peru  via  Jujuy  and 


200 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


the  Humahuaca  quebrada  encountered  competition  from  two 
main  roads  to  the  Pacific.  These  followed  in  part  ancient  trails 
by  which  the  Indians  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  and  its  high 
quebradas  brought  down  their  salt,  goatskins,  and  woven 
fabrics  to  barter  for  the  produce  of  the  warmer  valleys.   Thence 


*         T'-  .  'j* 


*  *«■  '  ■■*  ^ 


.,> 


l-^>     ->fj'^^'t.. 


Fig.  6i — Shepherd's  stone  hut  at  the  crest  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo  above 
the  limit  of  a  favorable  water  supply  and  of  the  growth  of  cereals. 


they  crossed  the  Atacama  Desert  to  Copiapo  and  Cobija 
(succeeded  later  by  Antofagasta)  respectively."  The  southern 
route  passed  through  the  Calchaqui  valley,  creating  in  Molinos 
a  commercial  station  of  importance,  and  thence,  skirting  the 
southern  salars  of  the  puna,  entered  Chile  by  way  of  the  passes 
of  San  Francisco  and  Tres  Cruces  (Fig.  87,  p.  259).  The  more 
northerly  route  passed  through  the  ancient  copper  mining 
site  of  San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres,  the  stretch  of  "  Despoblado" 
to  the  oasis  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  and  thence  westward 

51  For  details  of  roads  crossing  the  cordillera  see  Santiago  Mufioz:  Jeografia  de- 
scriptiva  de  las  provincias  de  Atacama  i  Antofagasta,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1894,  pp. 
63  et  seq.;  Franz  Kiihn:  Descripcion  del  camino  desde  Rosario  de  Lerma  hasta  Cachi, 
Bol.  Inst.  Geogr.  Argentino,  Vol.  24,  1910,  pp.  42—50. 


EASTERN  BORDER  TOWNS  201 

across  the  Desert  of  Atacama  to  the  port  of  Cobija.  The  routes 
were  approximately  the  same  length,  500  miles,  requiring 
about  twenty  days  for  accomplishment.  Both  were  arduous. 
Between  Salta  and  the  Pacific  seaboard  intervene  the  cold 
desert  of  the  puna  (Fig.  87)  and  the  warm  desert  of  the  coast. 
Throughout  the  routes  water,  fodder,  and  fuel  are  only  en- 
countered at  intervals.  The  reports  of  the  first  Spanish  cross- 
ing of  this  region,  Almagro's  famous  journey  to  Copiapo,  viv- 
idly detail  the  perils  of  the  road.  Yet,  despite  the  hardships, 
the  routes  were  shorter  and  communication  less  interrupted 
and  cheaper  via  the  Pacific  than  the  Atlantic.  Page,^^  of  the 
United  States  Naval  Expedition  of  1859,  investigated  naviga- 
tion on  the  Rio  Salado  (Santiago  Province)  and  estimated  that 
if  practicable  it  would  reduce  the  round  trip  from  Salta  to 
Rosario  (distant  350  leagues  by  road)  from  eight  or  ten  months 
to  two  months  and  the  expenses  by  half.  At  the  time  of  his 
investigation  freight  charges  along  this  route  amounted  to 
$2.oo-$2.50  per  arroba  (25  lbs.),  while  from  Cobija  on  the 
western  side  of  the  broad  and  cold  Andean  uplift  and  the  try- 
ing coastal  desert  they  ranged  from  $1.50  to  $2.00. 

Salta  has  not  yet  been  in  touch  with  outside  markets  long 
enough  to  have  more  than  begun  the  development  of  its  agri- 
cultural and  forestal  resources.  Its  tributary  streams  of  com- 
merce are  still  of  the  casual,  primitive  sort  that  lacks  both 
organization  and  development.  The  haciendas  of  the  Lerma 
valley  on  the  west  where  the  railroad  ends,  the  possibilities  of 
the  Calchaqui  valley  and  of  the  plains  country  naturally 
tributary  to  the  town  are  in  a  state  of  mere  beginning.  These 
valleys  are  adapted  to  a  wide  range  of  temperate,  subtropical, 
and  tropical  products.  In  addition  to  them  are  the  smaller 
tributary  areas,  the  stock-raising  establishments  in  the  many 
regions  that  are  now  developed  to  a  slight  extent  only.  We 
may  take  by  way  of  illustration  the  upper  Calchaqui  valley 
at  the  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  (Fig.  66,  p.  208). 

92  T.  J.  Page:  La  Plata,  the  Argentine  Confederation,  and  Paraguay,  New  York, 
1859,  p.  414. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  SMALLER  INTERMONT  VALLEYS:  THE 
LIVE-STOCK  TRADE  WITH  BOLIVIA 

The  Calchaqui  Valley  and  Poma 

The  physical  setting  of  the  village  of  Poma  in  the  upper 
Calchaqui  valley  is  not  only  picturesque  but  practical.  It  is  a 
small  settlement  at  an  elevation  of  about  10,000  feet  above  the 
sea.  On  its  west  is  the  great  mountain  wall,  surmounted  by 
volcanoes,  that  forms  the  eastern  border  of  the  high  and  bleak 
Puna  de  Atacama.  Its  northern  aspect  includes  the  snowy 
peaks  of  Acay.  On  the  east  is  a  high  and  bold  block  of  moun- 
tain country  with  smooth  middle  and  upper  slopes  and  deep- 
cut  ravines  at  its  foot  (Fig.  65).  The  village  is  located  on  the 
western  edge  of  the  valley  floor,  and  to  the  east  of  it  and  up 
and  down  valley  are  cultivated  plots  where  barley  is  grown 
and  irrigated  alfalfa  fields  furnish  forage  for  its  live-stock 
industry. 

From  the  whole  northwest  of  Argentina  there  are  sent  an- 
nually to  Bolivia  at  least  15,000  head  of  live  stock,  according 
to  Guilberto  Diaz,  owner  of  the  principal  ranch  or  finca,  La 
Poma,  as  it  is  called.  They  are  driven  from  Catamarca,  San 
Juan,  Salta,  and  lesser  border  towns  to  summer  in  the  alfalfa 
meadows  at  Poma,  where  a  broad  stretch  of  valley  floor  about 
five  miles  across  and  five  miles  up  and  down  valley  has  been 
intensively  irrigated  and  furnishes  abundant  pasture  in  well- 
kept  alfalfa  meadows.  The  15,000  include  in  part  3000  mules, 
4000  burros,  3000  cattle.  They  remain  during  December, 
January,  and  February  and  are  then  driven  north  into 
Bolivia.  Apart  from  this  industry  and  the  cattle  driving  west- 
ward across  the  cordillera  the  town  has  no  important  outside 
business  except  the  export  of  goatskins  and  salt.  The  manner 
in  which  one  reaches  the  town  serves  to  illustrate  the  diffi- 
culties attending  the  trade. 


THE  SMALL  LNTERMONT  VALLEYS 


203 


--'•fff-f^-^ 


Fig.  62 


Fig.  63 

Fig.  62 — Looking  due  east  from  a  point  near  the  crest  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo 
and  showing  undissected  portions  of  an  old  mountain  range  now  cultivated  nearly 
to  its  summit.  In  the  background  is  a  range  in  a  still  more  advanced  stage  of 
erosion. 

Fig.  63 — Looking  westward  at  the  main  front  of  the  Eastern  Cordillera  from  an 
elevation  of  11,300  feet,  with  the  Nevados  de  Cachi  in  the  background  and  the 
deep  depression  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  in  front  of  them.  Photograph  taken  from 
the  crest  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo. 


204  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

The  Route  to  Poma 

From  my  field  journal  are  the  following  notes  on  the  region. 
At  Rosarlo  de  Lerma,  the  railway  terminal,  I  met  my  pack 
train,  and  soon  after  starting  we  crossed  the  dry  stream  bed 
of  the  Rio  Manzano  (PI.  2,  p.  192).  We  passed  ranch  houses 
and  irrigated  alfalfa  fields  with  orchards.  In  the  late  afternoon 
we  ascended  the  Escoipe  ravine.  We  camped  on  the  middle 
slopes  where  a  fairly  heavy  growth  of  scrub  occurs  and  from 
turns  in  the  trail  had  a  view  out  over  the  irrigated  land  at 
the  south  of  the  mountains.  The  water  of  a  half-dozen  moun- 
tain streams  is  diverted  through  more  than  a  score  of  main 
irrigating  channels  that  make  the  valley  green  with  corn  and 
alfalfa.  Within  the  mountains  the  principal  valleys  and  the 
gentler  lower  slopes  are  covered  with  grainfields,  chiefly  barley 
and  wheat,  up  to  the  edge  of  the  broken  land  and  to  the  limits 
of  cultivation.  From  this  point  the  trail  climbs  into  the  higher 
and  rougher  country  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo  and  neighboring 
ridges  that  lie  between  Rosarlo  de  Lerma  and  Poma.  Beyond 
these  the  descent  begins;  but  it  is  gentle,  and  after  passing  the 
small  Sierra  de  Tintin  and  other  lesser  topographic  elevations 
one  comes  into  the  broad  and  semiarid  Calchaqui  valley.  In 
the  southeastern  corner  of  the  Rosarlo  de  Lerma  sheet  (PI.  2) 
may  be  seen  the  flatter  slopes  of  the  alluvium-covered  floor 
and  the  pattern  of  the  irrigated  tracts.  Here  and  there  are  bits 
of  better-watered  ground  with  pasture.  But  for  the  most 
part  the  dry  and  gravelly  alluvium  has  only  scattered  bunch 
grass  and  cactus. 

On  reaching  the  irrigated  portions  of  the  Calchaqui  valley 
there  Is  spread  out  before  one  a  charming  view  of  mountain 
and, valley  floor.  From  Palermo  up  valley  there  are  scattered 
corrals  and  ranch  houses  and  patches  of  green  that  mark  the 
exit  of  mountain  streams  which  here  rise  in  the  zone  of  clouds 
at  the  edge  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  and  sweep  down  to  the 
alluvial  lands  where  they  nourish  the  fields  (Fig.  64).  Both 
the  main  stream  and  its  tributaries  have  cut  their  channels 
below  the  general  level  of  the  valley  floor  so  that  steep  banks 
of  earth  run  for  long  distances  parallel  to  the  stream.    But 


THF:  small  INTERMCJiNT  VALLEYS 


205 


r 


i:::>>- 


Fig.  64 — The  Nevado  de  Cachi  on  the  western  side  of  the  Calchaqui  valley. 
Hacienda  Palermo  lies  in  the  middle  distance.  The  mountains  are  snow-covered 
in  part  for  most  of  the  year.  Below  the  snow  is  grassy  vegetation  down  to  the 
valley  border,  but  the  valley  floor  is  dry  except  where  irrigated. 


206 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


^SK^^:.;T's^rrsu.^p^i^; 


So  ^^ 
3  6^ 


> 

biO 

nj 

o 

o 

u 

vO 

u 

O 

4) 

1 

m 

a 

3 
be 

'C 

"tn 

O 

+-1 

42 

13 

^-t-H 

-M 

T3 

<K 

o 

1-. 

C 

<u 

in 

42 

ly) 

o 

0) 

Ui 

Cfi 

c 
c 

a 

OJ 

<v 

a 

rt 

bfl 

a 

3 

42 

42 

C 
O 

>-i 

c 

"^ 

O 

^ 

n3 

ID 

1 

C 

o 

^ 

tn 

>. 

tn 

be 

42 

<1) 

O 

c 

oJ 

C 
tn 

U4 

o 

o 

o 

i> 

j=: 

2 

C 

rt 

Cfi 

■? 

S 

o 
o 

q2 

-3 

>. 

o 

> 
0) 

1^ 

a) 

42 
(U 

1-. 

"rt 

<u 

rt 

> 

42 

0) 

cti 

i. 

> 

T3 

u-i 

<u 

<u 

O 

42 

c 

3 

cr 

_o 

c 

OJ 

n3 

.^ 

OJ 

JS 

-)-> 

, ( 

42 

JJ 

.2 

^ 

"rt 

a 

"> 

u 

3 

ti^ 

T3 

■"-; 

(U 

OJ 

c 

ctf 

^" 

^ 

03 

OJ 

H 

T3 

-T3 
0) 

42 
■1-1 

1 

<U 

t^ 

C 

lO 

rt 

_> 

O 

vO 

biO 

4-» 

►i. 

t^      0)     0)     3 


THE  SMALL  INTERMONT  VALLEYS  207 

for  this  habit  of  the  river  its  water  wfjuld  l)e  far  more  useful 
to  the  people  of  the  valley,  because  each  stream  must  now 
be  tapped  far  above  a  given  settlement  in  order  that  water 
may  be  brought  out  at  the  terrace  tops  where  arable  land  is 
found.  Poma  itself  consists  of  a  ranch,  on  which  are  a  few 
huts  surrounding  the  house  of  the  owner,  and  directly  up  val- 
ley the  village  of  two-score  houses.  From  any  vantage  point  in 
the  valley  one  may  see  right  to  the  head  of  it  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  away  where  snow  lies  on  the  high  peaks  of  Acay  during 
the  winter.  On  either  side  of  the  valley  floor  are  the  huts  of  the 
natives  scattered  at  wide  intervals,  their  flocks  ranging  over 
many  acres  of  mountain  side  in  search  of  pasture. 

Suitability  for  Stock  Grazing 

The  site  of  Poma  is  the  bed  of  a  temporary  lake,  now  partly 
dry  land,  partly  swamp,  where  the  hollows  of  the  former  lake 
floor  have  not  yet  been  completely  filled  up  or  drained.  The 
origin  of  the  lake  is  found  in  geologically  recent  volcanic 
action.  Four  miles  south  of  Poma  are  twin  volcanoes  (Fig.  66). 
When  the  flow  first  occurred  the  river  was  dammed  up,  and  a 
lake  several  miles  in  extent  was  brought  into  existence.  \Mth 
the  cutting  down  of  the  diverted  stream  into  the  rock  at  the 
edge  of  the  lava  flow  at  the  western  side  of  the  valley  the  lake 
was  drained.  Thus  it  came  about  that  an  extensive  area  of 
flat  land  in  the  midst  of  mountains  watered  by  many  streams 
from  the  adjacent  high  cordillera  has  given  rise  to  a  settlement 
far  removed  from  any  large  center  of  population.  In  an  air 
line  from  Poma  to  Rosario  de  Lerma  it  is  50  miles,  and  the 
distance  is  almost  doubled  by  trail. 

The  valley  behind  the  lava  dam  is  topographically  well 
adapted  to  the  control  of  live-stock  feeding.  Steep  mountains 
on  either  hand  prevent  the  mules  from  straying  too  widely. 
Barley  and  wheat  are  raised  up  to  1 1 ,000  feet,  as  we  observed 
on  June  16  in  traveling  across  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo;  but  this 
is  in  a  situation  well  protected  by  deep  valleys  roundabout 
from  the  cold-air  drainage  that  threatens  the  cereal  crops  in 
sites  nearer  the  cold  cordillera.    At  Poma  alfalfa  is  the  chief 


2o8 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


^S^^^"^^ 


;iLOS   - 

3MILES 


Fig.  66 — The  upper  Calchaqui  valley.  Campo 
Negro  is  a  volcanic  flow  that  blocked  the  valley 
making  a  lake  in  the  Poma  district.  When  the 
outlet  was  cut  down  the  lake  bottom  became  a 
valley  floor.  The  other  shaded  areas  represent 
irrigated  districts. 


crop.  It  decorates 
the  valley  and  makes 
it  seem  exceptionally 
attractive  after  one 
has  journeyed  over 
the  lava  flows  and 
coarse  piedmont  of 
the  intervening  ba- 
sins and  mountains. 

So  fertile  is  the  soil 
of  the  Calchaqui  val- 
ley at  Poma  that  al- 
falfa lasts  for  twen- 
ty-five years  without 
resowing,  whereas  at 
Salta  and  Santa  Fe  it 
lasts  but  three  years 
on  account  of  the  heat 
and  drought.  This 
mea  ns  much  less  work 
in  the  higher  valleys 
and  a  corresponding 
economy  in  the  man- 
agement of  an  estate. 
Yet  the  climate  is 
suflficiently  mild  in 
winter  to  permit  open 
grazing.  The  fields 
arethereforepastured 
the  whole  year  round, 
and  the  grass  is  not 
cut  for  hay  except  for 
limited  winter  feed- 
ingr  The  work  on  a 
given  ranch,  or  finca, 
as  on  that  of  La 
Poma,  is  chiefly  to 
open  ditches  and 
clean  them  out  each 


THE  SMALL  INTERMONT  VALLEYS  209 

year  and  prepare  the  soil  of  new  alfalfa  fields  f(jr  sowing.  From 
June  to  August  it  is  too  cold  to  irrigate  the  ground,  for  the 
water  freezes  during  the  night  and  interferes  with  the  proper 
distribution;  and,  beside  that,  if  it  were  allowed  to  freeze  in 
the  alfalfa  meadows  it  would  destroy  them.  Hence  all  up 
and  down  the  valley  the  alfalfa  is  cut  and  stacked  for  winter 
feeding,  and  there  is  no  irrigation  except  between  the  latter 
part  of  August  or  September  and  May  or  April.  By  the  time 
the  mules  and  burros  arrive  on  their  way  to  Bolivia,  that  is 
in  the  months  of  January  and  February,  the  pastures  are  in 
good  condition. 

The  necessity  of  conserving  water  in  the  valley  is  very  great, 
and  it  is  traditional  among  the  Indian  population  today  that 
there  has  always  been  an  immense  amount  of  quarreling  among 
the  owners.  Each  landowner  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  has  the 
right  to  all  the  water  that  originates  on  his  land,  a  privilege 
of  considerable  importance  in  a  restricted  valley  where  tribu- 
tary streams  have  their  sources  at  high  elevations  in  a  zone  of 
more  abundant  rains.  Each  owner  also  has  a  right  to  partici- 
pate in  the  use  of  the  main  stream  that  flows  down  valley 
through  his  district.  ^^ 

Landownership 

Outside  the  circle  of  influence  of  such  a  valley  the  Indians 
of  the  Puna  occupy  the  soil  without  responsibility  to  a  white 
owner.  They  pay  neither  rent  to  white  owners  nor  taxes  to  the 
government.  This  is  on  account  of  their  poverty  and  restricted 
resources.  They  are  limited  to  the  grazing  of  llamas,  sheep, 
and  goats  in  the  least  desirable  lands  and  obtain  the  rest  of 
their  supplies  by  exchanging  the  products  of  their  flocks  with 
Indians  farther  down  valley.  The  arrenderos,  on  the  other 
hand,  pay  50  cents  a  hectare  (about  23^2  acres)  in  the  form  of  a 
municipal  tax,  but  they  pay  no  national  tax.  The  owner  of  the 
land  must  pay  from  $2.40  to  I4.00  per  valuation  of  $1000 
on  each  hectare. 

93  The  water  question  in  the  northwestern  valleys  of  Argentina  is  described  and 
compared  with  more  southerly  conditions  (cf.  pp.  128-130)  by  Pierre  Denis:  The 
Argentine  Republic,  London,  1922,  pp.  43-46. 


210  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

There  are  only  about  200  or  300  Indians  in  the  Poma  region 
at  the  present  time.  They  act  as  muleteers  for  the  pack  trains 
and  otherwise  herd  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  and  raise  a  few 
potatoes  and  the  like. 

There  is  no  law  compelling  the  Indians  (called  peons,  i.  e. 
workmen)  to  work  on  the  fincas,  or  farms,  as  in  Bolivia  and 
parts  of  Peru.  The  use  of  the  land  is  arranged  when  they  come 
to  rent  it.  Each  finca  is  a  cross  section  of  the  valley  and  is 
generally  owned  by  whites  or  persons  of  mixed  white  and 
Indian  blood.  A  part  of  each  proprietor's  holdings  in  the  valley 
is  cultivated  under  his  personal  direction,  though  the  greater 
part  is  pasture  land.  What  he  does  not  superintend  directly 
he  rents  to  so-called  arrenderos.  A  few  white  people  are 
arrenderos,  but  for  the  most  part  the  Indians  are  the  renters 
of  the  land.  They  obtain  their  right  to  work  it  for  a  stipulated 
sum,  and,  as  we  have  said,  grazing  rights  are  free.  The  topo- 
graphic relation  of  arrenderos  to  hacendados  is  shown  in  Figure 
67.  The  arrenderos  cultivate  barley,  potatoes,  and  alfalfa  at 
the  mouths  of  the  tributary  valleys  where  there  is  ready  access 
to  the  trails  that  connect  them  with  neighboring  ranches  and 
settlements.  The  tributary  ravines  that  enter  the  main  valley 
on  either  side  are  so  steep-sided  and  deep  and  so  nearly  barren 
in  their  mid-slopes  as  to  constitute  excellent  natural  boundaries 
between  the  different  fincas,  hence  in  the  land  titles  the  bound- 
ary is  said  to  run  from  one  quebrada  or  ravine  to  another  and 
the  estate  to  comprise  all  the  land  between. 

For  six  or  eight  years  before  the  World  War  the  purchase 
of  land  in  Argentina  had  been  going  on  rapidly  in  sympathy 
with  the  rapid  increase  in  the  price  of  farm  products.  Everyone 
was  trying  to  get  land.  In  the  Calchaqui  valley  the  price  of 
property  advanced  from  three  to  five  times  its  value  a  few 
years  earlier,  and  a  number  of  large  ranch  owners  were  able  to 
sell  the  least  productive  parts  of  their  holdings  in  fractions  for 
prices  that  amounted  to  as  much  as  the  entire  sum  paid 
for  the  land  five  years  before.  Guilberto  Diaz  at  Poma 
bought  63,000  hectares  in  1903  for  83,000  pesos.  In  1912 
he  sold  30,000  hectares,  chiefly  in  the  mountains,  for  80,000 
pesos. 


THE  SMALL  INTERMONT  VALLEYS 


211 


Sefior  Diaz  gave  me  some  details  about  his  farm  which  are 
worth  recording  here.  Before  1912  it  consisted  of  63,000  hec- 
tares in  all  and  extended  from  the  summit  of  the  mountains 
on  the  east  to  the  edge  of  the  cordillera  that  bounds  the  Puna 
on  the  west.  Five  hundred  hectares  were  under  cultivation 
in  the  valley.  In  1913  he  had  60  arrenderos  upon  his  land  and 
a  total  population  of  about  300.  Each  arrendero  pays  according 
to  the  size  of  his  finca.     For  example  those  that  control  from 


CalchaquI 
Valley 


Titled  and  dissecteff    ^- 
block  of  sandstone 
Alluviqifgn 


Uarrow  ravine  in 
slates  and  schists 


Fig.  67 — The  eastern  border  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  looking  northward.  To 
show  use  of  the  land.  The  numbers  refer  to  sites  as  follows:  i,  finca  (main  ranch 
or  farm);  2,  arrenderos  (tenants);  3,  pasture  sites  for  flocks  of  arrenderos. 


I  to  ID  hectares  pay  50  pesos  a  year.  They  work  a  month, 
more  or  less,  upon  the  fields  of  the  owner  and  for  his  benefit 
when  it  is  convenient  for  them,  and  in  return  he  pays  them 
15  or  20  pesos  for  their  labor.  Sometimes  they  dislike  the  work 
to  which  they  are  set  or  the  conditions  under  which  they  are 
obliged  to  work,  and  they  are  free  in  such  cases  to  move  to 
another  place  where  they  imagine  the  circumstances  may  be 
more  favorable. 

The  arrenderos  move  about  a  great  deal,  not  only  in  this 
manner  but  as  travelers  and  traders,  while  their  families  stay 
at  home  to  occupy  the  hut  and  guard  its  belongings,  to  till  the 
soil,  and  to  shepherd  the  flocks.  Some  of  them  go  even  as 
far  as  the  Yungas  in  eastern  Bolivia.  They  drive  mules  to  the 
Bolivian  mines  and  return  with  coca.  The  cost  of  a  22-kilo 
package  of  coca  on  arriving  in  Argentina  is  50  pesos  and  the 
duty  on  it  5^  pesos.  Upon  their  little  fincas  the  arrenderos 
keep  goats,  sheep,  cattle,  mules,  and  burros,  and  the  habita- 
tions are  built  upon  little  alluvial  patches  at  the  base  of  the 


212 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


steep  slopes.     On  several  miles  of  valley  side  I  counted  six 
or  seven  such  farms. 

Disposition  and  Life  of  Valley  Population 

The  huts  of  the  arrenderos  are  scattered  throughout  the 
lower  valley  slopes.  The  last  of  them  are  generally  located  no 
higher  than  10,800  to  10,900  feet.  The  highest  hut  I  saw  was 
at  an  elevation  of  12,100  feet  in  the  ravine  of  Peiias  Blancas. 


Fig.  68 — The  main  street  in  Poma,  Calchaqui  valley. 

It  was  a  small  stone  hut  thatched  with  grass  and  had  a  corral 
connected  directly  with  it  (Fig.  112).  The  thatch  is  made  of  car- 
rizo,  clump  grass  somewhat  like  pampa  grass;  the  long  stems 
give  it  stability,  and  it  is  weighted  down  with  stones.  This  hut 
was  occupied  in  the  months  of  January  and  February  when  the 
rains  come^^  and  the  warmer  weather.  In  June,  at  the  time 
of  our  visit,  it  was  unoccupied.  At  the  mouths  of  many  of  the 
tributary  valleys  corrals  are  built,  and  sometimes  stone  fences 
are  laid  across  constricted  portions  of  the  valleys  from  steep 
cliffs  on  one  side  to  steep  cliffs  on  the  other  to  prevent  the  down- 
valley  movement  of  the  flocks.  The  shepherds  or  persons  in 
their  employ  are  in  all   cases  the  arrenderos  of  the  valley 

'^  Kiihn  (Zeitschr.  Gesell.  fiir  Erdkunde  zu  Berlin,  191 1,  p.  149)  gives  the  precipita- 
tion of  the  Calchaqui  vahey  as  200-300  mm.  for  January,  February,  and  March. 


THE  SMALL  INTERMONT  VALLEYS 


213 


mouths.  Grazing  extends  to  14,000  feet  uij  the  large  trilni- 
taries,  and  on  account  of  the  up-and-down-xalley  winds  the 
huts  are  placed  not  at  the  mouths  of  the  smaller  tributaries 
but  to  one  side  of  them  so  as  to  escape  the  winds. 

The  porticos  of  the  principal  houses  at  Poma  face  east  or 
south  to  avoid  the  heavy  afternoon  wind  of  winter  and  to  get 
the  shade  of  summer.  The  wind  begins  about  1 1  o'clock  in 
the  morning  and  becomes  heavy  about  i  p.m.,  blowing  with 


fi  .'■<>; ,Jid'77.»./i._ 


Fig.  69 — The  ranch  house  at  Hacienda  La  Poma,  showing  the  pack  train  about 
to  start  across  the  Puna  de  Atacama. 


greatest  velocity  from  then  till  4  p.m.  and  often  continuing 
into  the  night  at  gale  strength.  Houses  that  face  east  have 
the  advantage  of  the  early  morning  sun,  and  thus  the  tempera- 
ture of  courtyard  and  portico  is  a  grateful  change  from  the 
bitter  cold  of  night  to  summer  w^armth. 

Twice  a  year  a  priest  comes  from  Cachi  down  the  valley 
(Fig.  i)  at  his  own  convenience  to  attend  to  the  needs  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Poma.  He  remains  a  fortnight,  baptizing, 
marrying,  holding  services  for  those  who  have  died  in  the 
interval  since  his  last  visit,  and  ministering  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  settlement.  The  church  is  a  small  adobe  structure, 
with  a  square  bell  tower,  on  the  main  street  of  the  village. 
Like  the  houses  of  the  residents  the  woodwork  of  the  church  is 


214  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

largely  from  the  native  cactus  (see  Fig.  98),  or  cardon,  with 
some  imported  parts  from  the  distant  woodland  that  clothes 
the  eastern  mountain  slopes  above  Rosario  de  Lerma  (Fig.  95). 

The  life  of  Poma  in  one  aspect  or  another  is  repeated  in 
many  of  the  border  valleys.  Among  these  is  Luracatao,  a 
tributary  valley  of  the  Calchaqui.  It  sends  some  300  head  of 
cattle  a  month  to  Chile.  They  go  in  troops  of  60  head,  traveling 
about  nine  to  twelve  miles  a  day  and  going  to  markets  even 
as  far  north  as  Iquique.  The  large-boned,  large-hoofed  beasts, 
shod  for  the  journey,  are  of  a  type  well  fitted  for  such  travel; 
but  even  they,  especially  during  the  winter,  arrive  in  poor 
condition.  It  is  estimated  that  they  lose  one  hundred  pounds 
on  the  road.^^ 

The  Escoipe  valley  has  products  and  a  cattle  business  similar 
to  the  Calchaqui.  At  least  a  score  of  high  mountain  valleys  are 
under  development  on  the  mountain  border  as  way  stations 
for  cattle  or  as  pastures  for  flocks  and  herds  whose  products 
are  sent  to  Salta  and  eventually  to  Buenos  Aires  for  overseas 
markets. 

The  Live-Stock  Trade  with  Bolivia 

One  might  suppose  that  so  isolated  a  community  as  Poma 
would  have  little  value,  and  yet  so  important  is  the  combina- 
tion of  water  and  good  soil  that  every  favorable  spot  between 
the  puna  and  the  plains  has  been  discovered  and  developed. 
The  chief  business  of  Poma,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  grazing  of 
live  stock  during  the  winter  when  the  flocks  and  herds  must  be 
driven  down  from  the  surrounding  high  mountains  to  the 
more  sheltered  valley  floor.  The  settlement  is  also  important 
as  a  station  in  the  live-stock  trade  with  southern  Bolivia. 
The  difficulties  of  the  way  oblige  the  dealers  to  drive  their 
cattle  slowly  and  rest  them  frequently  in  favorable  spots. 
Every  year  a  stream  of  mules,  asses,  llamas,  sheep,  and  cattle 
go  north  from  the  Poma  valley  over  high  passes  to  Bolivia 
where  they  are  sold  to  the  mines  or  to  the  railroads  where 
construction  is  in  progress,  or  are  held  for  the  great  annual  fair 
at  Huari,  Bolivia.    At  this  celebrated  fair  there  gather  every 

55  E.  A.  Holmberg:  Viaje  por  la  Governacion  de  Los  Andes,  Buenos  Aires,  1900. 


iaei 


THE  SMALL  INTERMONT  VALLEYS  215 

year  an  immense  number  of  merchants  from  northern  Argen- 
tina, Bolivia,  and  Peru.  They  trade  in  all  manner  of  products 
of  mine,  forest,  field,  and  garden.  It  is  one  of  the  principal 
bartering  places  of  Hispanic  America. 


The  Huari  Fair 

Information  concerning  the  great  fair  at  Huari  is  not  easy 
to  obtain  because  the  right  to  manage  the  fair  is  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder  and  whatever  records  are  kept  are  widely 
scattered,  and  I  have  no  doubt  practically  all  of  them  are  soon 
lost.  I  had  made  many  inquiries  at  different  places  throughout 
the  Central  Andes  in  the  hope  that  I  could  piece  together  an 
accurate  description  of  the  fair.  Quite  by  accident  I  met  one 
of  the  concessionaires  who  had  bought  from  the  government 
the  state  and  municipal  duties  in  1907  and  had  kept  all  in- 
formation concerning  the  fair  in  a  record  book  from  which  I 
copied  the  data  that  follow.  His  name  is  C.  J.  Bosman,  and 
in  1 91 3  he  was  the  proprietor  of  the  Hotel  Atacama  at  Copiapo. 

Huari  is  governed  by  the  municipality  of  Challapata,  a 
town  on  the  railroad  east  of  Lake  Poopo  on  the  high  plateau, 
or  altiplano,  of  western  Bolivia  (Fig.  i).  At  Challapata  every 
year  the  municipal  dues  are  put  up  at  public  auction  and  sold 
to  the  highest  bidder.  In  1907  the  number  of  people  who  came 
to  attend  the  fair  from  outside  the  town  and  district  was 
estimated  at  7000  to  8000.  Before  putting  up  a  shop  the  out- 
sider must  pay  a  tax.  If  he  does  not  take  this  precaution  he 
is  fined,  and  the  fine  goes  to  the  Rematador  de  los  Impiiestos, 
or  the  person  who  obtains  from  the  government  the  right  to 
manage  the  fair. 

All  liquors  that  come  in  pay  duties  to  the  concessionaire, 
who  controls  their  import,  with  the  exception  of  alcohol  and 
chicha,  the  latter  a  local  native  drink  made,  as  a  rule,  from 
the  fermented  juice  of  corn.  While  the  fair  lasts  for  fourteen 
days,  it  passes  Its  climax  In  three  days.  In  1907  It  was  held 
on  April  24,  and  it  is  the  custom  to  open  it  the  day  after  Holy 
Week,  or  "Semana  Santa."  The  concessionaire  in  1907  em- 
ployed five  persons  to  collect  dues  and  administer  the  trade. 


2i6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

He  had  at  his  disposal  the  police  department  of  the  town.  In 
addition,  the  government  sent  twenty-five  soldiers  under  the 
command  of  the  sub-prefect  to  keep  order.  At  night  the 
place  was  patrolled  by  two  hundred  Indians  in  bodies  of  fifty 
each. 

The  following  table  gives  further  statistics,  as  copied  from 
Mr.  Bosman's  record: 

Number    Charge 

Horses  brought  to  fair , 43  T^oi  each 

Mules 2786  Tyoi  each 

Bullocks,  etc 1 894  30?!  each 

Donkeys 1 767  30?!  each 

Shops  (only  during  fair) 53  $10  each 

Tents 114  $5  each 

Hotels 2  $50  each 

Boarding  houses 28  $10  each 

Women  sitting  outside  anywhere  selling  food 97  $5  each 

Gambling  tables 31  $20  each 

Roulette i    $500  each 

Butchery 2  $10  each 

Bakeries 7  $5  each 

Canteens  (saloon) 67  $20  each 

General  merchandise  stores i  $50  each 

Shops  for  coca 29  $5  each 

Alcohol  (government  supply) i  o  each 

Anyone  journeying  through  the  Central  Andes  from  north- 
western Argentina  to  Lake  Titicaca  westward  to  the  Pacific 
at  the  present  time  could  manage  to  see  a  great  deal  of  the 
country  from  the  railroad,  but  the  conditions  of  rail  transpor- 
tation would  conceal  the  background  of  the  people  who  had 
made  the  country  in  decades  and  centuries  past.  To  under- 
stand the  structure  of  the  life  of  the  region  today,  one  must 
know  that  the  railroad  is  a  very  recent  affair.  Until  it  came — 
and  the  beginnings  of  the  Andean  railroads  date  back  but  little 
more  than  twenty-five  years  except  near  mines  or  on  the  coast 
of  Chile — goods  had  to  be  brought  in  on  mule  back.  As  late 
as  the  years  1901  to  1906  C.  J.  Bosman  took  yearly  trips  from 
the  coast,  and  his  experiences  illustrate  the  sort  of  trading 
that  is  still  done  all  through  those  districts  not  served  by  the 
railway.  He  bought  six  strong  Argentinian  mules  at  Calama, 
which  was  then  the  end  of  the  railroad  in  Chile,  and  with  a 
cargo  of  general  merchandise  set  out  for  the  plateau  country 


THE  SMALLER  INTERMONT  VALLEYS  217 

to  sell  to  all  sorts  of  stores  in  Bolivia.  He  made  the  trip  five 
times  in  succession  in  five  years,  taking  nine  months  for  the 
journey.  He  traveled  about  two  thousand  miles  on  mule 
back  on  each  journey  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
by  stagecoach.  Bolivia  at  that  time  had  the  reputation  of  hav- 
ing the  largest  consumption  per  head  of  conserved  food  of  all 
countries  in  the  world.  He  took  wines,  liquors,  teas,  flour, 
candles,  and  the  like.  In  the  best  year  he  handled  merchandise 
having  a  total  value  of  £35,000.  He  went  from  Calama  to 
Uyuni  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Bolivian  plateau,  thence  to 
Tupiza,  Tarija,  Camargo,  Potosi,  Sucre,  Cochabamba,  Santa 
Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  Villa  Bella,  back  to  Cochabamba,  Oruro,  La 
Paz.  From  Oruro  to  La  Paz  he  traveled  by  coach,  the  mules 
being  sent  to  Corocoro  to  wait  for  him.  From  La  Paz  he 
went  to  Corocoro  by  coach  and  to  Sorata  by  pack  train.  At 
Sorata  he  sold  his  mules  for  use  in  the  rubber  country,  and  all 
merchandise  that  he  could  gather  was  likewise  sent  down  the 
Tipuani  trail  for  Mapiri  on  the  Alapiri  River,  a  tributary  of 
the  Beni.  From  Sorata  he  went  to  Guaqui  at  the  eastern  end 
of  Lake  Titicaca  on  mule  back,  the  mules  having  been  sold  at 
Sorata  on  condition  that  they  should  take  him  to  Guaqui. 
Thence  he  went  to  Puno,  across  Lake  Titicaca  by  steamer, 
from  Puno  to  Mollendo  by  rail,  and  at  Mollendo  he  took  the 
steamer  to  Caldera,  thence  by  rail  to  his  home  in  Copiapo. 

George  Earl  Church,  wTiting  in  1877  and  describing  the  cart 
roads  of  the  high  plateau  of  Bolivia  and  the  absence  of  rail 
transportation,  spoke  of  a  country  beyond  the  reach  of  a  rail- 
way as  being  in  a  state  of  "territorial  imprisonment."  He 
gave  ^^  a  "list  of  freights"  from  Cobija  on  the  coast  of  Chile  to 
Potosi  and  enumerated  the  difficulties  and  uncertainties  both 
as  to  passage  and  cost  owing  to  the  irregular  and  deadly  com- 
petition of  mines,  such,  for  example,  as  Caracoles,  40  miles  in- 
land from  Cobija  (compare  p.  172).  A  similar  list  is  given  for 
the  cost  of  unloading  and  transporting  goods  from  Arica  to 
Tacna,  thence  to  Cochabamba  and  other  plateau  towns. 

5s  G.  E.  Church:  The  Route  to  Bolivia  via  the  River  Amazon:  A  Report  to  the 
■Governments  of  Bolivia  and  Brazil,  London,  1877. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  CHACO  COUNTRY  AND  THE  CATTLE  TRADE 
WITH  THE  NITRATE  DESERT 

In  Colonel  Roosevelt's  "Through  the  Brazilian  Wilderness" 
there  is  a  most  interesting  description  of  the  grasslands  that 
border  the  middle  and  upper  Paraguay  and  lie  all  about  its 
headwater  region  and  beyond.  Once  a  practical  cattleman,  he 
was  able  to  appraise  the  country  as  one  of  great  future  develop- 
ment. It  consists  of  northward  outliers  or  fringes  of  a  broad 
belt  of  grassland  a  large  unit  of  which  forms  the  vast  Matto 
Grosso  of  Brazil,  while  the  other  unit  forms  the  Gran  Chaco  of 
southeastern  Bolivia  and  adjoining  parts  of  Argentina  and 
Paraguay. 

The  Grasslands  of  the  Chaco 

These  grasslands  are  quite  different  from  the  wide  open 
pampas  of  Argentina,  which  are  virtually  treeless  except  for 
the  imported  poplar  and  eucalyptus,  and  different  also  from 
the  llanos  of  Orinoco,  partly  because  of  the  climatic  conditions, 
partly  because  they  are  much  more  extensive,  and  partly  also 
because  they  are  much  farther  from  the  sea.  So-called  "gallery 
forests"  along  the  banks  of  the  streams  are  the  rule;  and  in  ad- 
dition there  are  patches  and  clumps  of  woodland,  and  in 
places  the  soil  is  occupied  by  broader  but  limited  tracts  of  for- 
est. The  distinctive  physical  qualities  of  this  belt  of  grasslands 
have  made  their  impression  upon  the  life  of  the  region;  for 
example,  owing  to  its  remoteness,  long  expensive  journeys  by 
pack  train  or  oxcart  must  be  made  to  reach  a  river  or  a  distant 
railway  terminus.  It  is  a  true  frontier  region  like  our  own  West 
of  an  earlier  day  in  some  respects,  unlike  it  in  that  the  way  of 
the  pioneer  leads  northward  toward  ever  more  tropical  condi- 
tions instead  of  lying  along  the  same  parallel  of  latitude. 
Labor  is  difficult  to  obtain.  The  plague  of  insects,  the  long 
distances  between  settlements,  the  uncertainties  of  a  water 
supply  combine  to  make  difficult  and  sometimes  hazardous  the 
trade  or  even  the  mere  livelihood  of  the  hundreds  of  pioneer 

218 


CATTLE  TRADE  219 

communities  that  now  lie  scattered  along  the  watercourses  or 
about  the  rim  of  the  grasslands. 

Having  to  wait  for  a  week  at  Salta  while  the  mules  were  be- 
ing prepared  for  the  pack-train  journey  that  I  was  to  take 
across  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  I  employed  the  time  in  going  to 
the  end  of  the  railroad  at  Embarcacion  to  look  into  at  least  the 
border  of  the  region  and  to  learn  what  I  could  of  the  trade  at 
this  frontier  tow^n  and  of  the  conditions  under  which  the  trade 
was  carried  on.  The  railway  descends  from  1187  meters  (3893 
feet)  at  Salta,  in  a  mountain  basin,  to  286  meters  (938  feet)  at 
Embarcacion,  on  the  piedmont  plains.  It  was  completed  to 
the  latter  city  in  1912,  the  first  passenger  train  running  in  Jan- 
uary of  that  year,  though  the  line  to  Salta  was  built  35  years 
ago  and  to  Jujuy  30  years  ago.  There  have  been  tw^o  chief  rea- 
sons why  the  railroad  has  been  extended  into  the  edge  of  the 
Chaco.  First,  there  is  the  trade  with  the  settlements  at  the 
foot  of  the  Andes  where  the  Chaco  and  the  mountains  meet,  a 
trade  that  was  at  best  feeble  and  carried  on  by  pack  train  and 
oxcart  over  almost  impassable  tracts  and  that  in  itself  would 
not  have  proved  a  sufficiently  strong  magnet.  But  oil  was  dis- 
covered in  south-central  Bolivia  near  Cuevo  north  of  the 
boundary  town  of  Yacuiba.  The  transportation  of  iron  pipe 
and  well-drilling  machinery  required  the  improvement  of  the 
track  and  the  extension  of  railroad  facilities.  The  total  com- 
merce from  Embarcacion  north  in  191 3  was  12,000  tons  a  year. 
The  distance  to  the  Bolivian  frontier  is  about  100  miles,  and 
the  cost  of  carriage  is  startlingly  high.  From  Buenos  Aires  to 
Embarcacion  a  carload  of  30  tons  costs  $500  to  transport.  The 
well  tubing  at  Embarcacion  is  said  to  cost  4  cents  Argentine  a 
pound.  One  section  of  6-inch  tubing  weighs  300  pounds,  and 
five  of  these  make  a  cartload  for  six  mules.  From  Embarcacion 
to  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra  transportation  costs  from  $7.00  to 
$10.00  a  kilo  and  to  other  places  along  the  way  a  corresponding 
amount;  thus  to  Yacuiba  on  the  frontier,  or  the  first  100  miles 
of  the  journey,  it  costs  $1 .30,  and  the  balance,  of  $5.80  or  more, 
is  for  the  next  500  miles  of  the  total  distance  of  600  miles. 
Mather,  who  visited  the  region  in  1920,  writes  in  the  Geograph- 
ical Review: 


220  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

"In  spite  of  the  tropical  location  the  climatic  conditions 
seem  entirely  favorable  to  the  settlement  of  the  region  [the 
foothill  border  of  the  plain]  by  white  men.  Its  backwardness 
appears  to  be  mainly  a  result  of  its  remoteness  from  the  estab- 
lished centers  of  civilization.  This  remoteness,  however,  can- 
not delay  much  longer  the  settlement  of  this  land  by  energetic 
and  ambitious  pioneers.  A  preliminary  survey  for  a  railroad  to 
run  from  Embarcacion  to  Santa  Cruz  by  way  of  Yacuiba, 
Villamontes,  and  Charagua  has  already  been  completed.  The 
Bolivian  government,  however,  is  opposed  to  the  construction 
of  such  a  railroad  until  the  completion  of  the  Cochabamba- 
Santa  Cruz  Railroad,  also  en  proyecto,  because  of  the  fear  of  in- 
creasing the  already  close  co-ordination  of  eastern  Bolivia 
with  Argentina  before  the  contacts  of  eastern  Bolivia  with 
western  Bolivia  are  perfected.  Both  these  railroad  projects, 
however,  will  probably  be  consummated  within  ten  or  fifteen 
years."  " 

At  Embarcacion  I  interviewed  the  agent  of  the  principal 
commercial  company  and  obtained  from  him  invaluable  in- 
formation; and  while  there  I  also  met  for  the  first  time  Baron 
Erland  Nordenskiold,  who,  with  his  wife,  was  just  starting  out 
on  a  third  journey  into  the  Chaco  to  make  a  detailed  study  of 
the  Indians  and  their  culture.  He  had  also  traveled  along  the 
border  between  forest  and  grassland  on  the  Bolivian-Argen- 
tinian frontier  in  1901-1902.^^ 

A  Route  Across  the  Chaco 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  have  as  a  traveling  companion  on 
the  way  to  Embarcacion  a  railway  engineer  who  had  crossed 

9'  K.  F.  Mather:  Along  the  Andean  Front  in  Southeastern  Bohvia,  Geogr.  Rev., 
Vol.  12,  1922,  pp.  358-374;  reference  on  p.  374.  Compare  the  situation  as  regards 
Transandean  lines  between  Chile  and  Argentina,  p.  97. 

98  Baron  Nordenskiold,  in  his  article  "Travels  on  the  Boundaries  of  Bolivia  and 
Argentina"  (Geogr.  Joum.,  Vol.  21,  1903,  pp.  510-525),  gives  an  account  of  his  first 
journey  in  South  America,  where  altogether  he  has  spent  six  years  in  archeological  and 
ethnographical  exploration.  On  the  Chaco  region  he  has  written  "Indianerleben 
(El  Gran  Chaco)"  (Leipzig,  1912),  and  Chaco  tribes  are  dealt  with  in  the  first  two 
volumes  of  his  "Comparative  Ethnographical  Studies"  (An  Ethno-geographical 
Analysis  of  the  Material  Culture  of  Two  Indian  Tribes  in  the  Gran  Chaco,  Goteborg, 
191 8;  The  Changes  in  the  Material  Culture  of  Two  Indian  Tribes  under  the  Influence 
of  New  Surroundings,  Goteborg,  1920). 


CATTLE  TRADE  221 

the  Chaco  repeatedly  and  who  had  a  file  of  notes  and  memo- 
randa which  he  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal.  Only  the  fact  that 
he  asked  me  not  to  give  his  name  prevents  my  giving  him  the 
credit  that  is  his  due.  I  have  condensed  the  material  he  gave 
me  to  the  following  brief  description,  which  serves  to  picture 
the  country  that  comprises  the  grasslands  of  the  Chaco. 

Starting  at  Villa  Concepcion  on  the  Paraguay  River,  on  the 
Tropic  of  Capricorn,  and  going  west,  one  crosses  the  Pilco- 
mayo  River  and  the  Bermejo,  just  south  of  Embarcacion.  I 
know  of  no  published  description  of  just  this  route,  though  we 
have  the  excellent  general  account  of  the  missionary  W.  Bar- 
brooke  Grubb,^^  who  has  described  the  section  of  the  Chaco 
between  the  23rd  and  24th  parallels.  For  thirty  leagues  (a 
league  is  the  distance  that  a  mule  will  travel  in  about  an 
hour — it  is  about  three  miles  and  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  an 
exactly  measured  distance  in  country  like  this)  west  of  Villa 
Concepcion  the  land  is  almost  exclusively  palma,  that  is 
low-lying  compo,  or  grass  covered  country,  liable  to  be  inun- 
dated with  water  from  the  overflow  of  neighboring  esteros, 
or  swampy  tracts,  and  dotted  with  palm  groves.  For  the 
next  fifteen  leagues  farther  west  the  country  is  more  broken, 
with  algarrobo  trees  and  small  monies,  or  forest — w^oodland 
we  should  call  it — containing  quebracho,  and  also  with 
long  esteros,  some  of  them  appearing  to  be  abandoned  river 
courses.  Toward  the  end  of  the  swampy  stretches  the  palms 
gradually  diminish  and  finally  disappear,  the  quebracho 
becoming  more  plentiful.  Here  the  land  rises  appreciably,  the 
large  esteros  vanish,  the  soil  is  sandier,  and  grasses  unlike  the 
swamp  grasses  farther  east  begin  to  appear.  Then  for  five 
leagues  farther  the  montes  become  more  numerous,  with  small 
quebracho  tracts.  The  water  becomes  scarcer,  lying  in  hollows 
which  soon  dry  up.    For  the  next  six  leagues  the  country  is 

39  W.  B.  Grubb:  An  Unknown  People  in  an  Unknown  Land,  Philadelphia  and  Lon- 
don, 191 1 ;  and  also  idem:  A  Church  in  the  Wilds,  New  York,  1914.  In  appendixes  to 
the  former  Mr.  Grubb  quotes  from  Professor  J.  Graham  Kerr's  account  of  the  Chaco 
and  its  exploration  published  in  the  Scottish  Geogr.  Mag.,  Vol.  8,  1892.  "Chaco  explora- 
tion is  a  sad  record  in  many  respects,  showing  an  enormous  expenditure  of  human  life, 
with  but  very  slight  resulting  gain  to  our  knowledge."  To  the  list  of  attempted  pene- 
trations might  be  added  that  of  Thouar  in  1 886-1 887,  which  got  more  than  half  way 
across  from  the  Pilcomayo  to  the  Paraguay  in  about  latitude  22°  50'. 


222  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

campo,  or  grassy  plains,  so  open  that  in  places  one  may  have 
uninterrupted  view  to  the  horizon  both  north  and  south.  Dead, 
burnt  quebracho  trees  are  numerous,  but  otherwise  there  is 
little  in  the  way  of  woods.  Apart  from  one  small  hole,  at  which 
the  Indians  have  a  well  in  the  dry  season,  water  is  entirely 
absent  in  this  stretch.  Toward  the  end  of  the  six  leagues  in 
question  is  a  broken  monte,  finally  opening  up  to  large  campo, 
closed  by  monte  on  the  north  and  on  the  south  by  the  Riacho 
Monte  Lindo,  which  flows  between  banks  four  meters  high 
with  very  little  water  and  that  brackish. 

For  the  next  nine  leagues  the  banks  of  the  Monte  Lindo  re- 
tain their  height,  but  the  water  is  only  a  few  inches  deep  and 
continues  brackish  at  first,  then  becomes  sweet  as  afterward  the 
bed  is  full  of  grass,  showing  that  water  is  only  temporary.  My 
informant's  party  followed  Indian  tracks,  proceeding  as  di- 
rectly westward  as  they  could — there  were  no  trails — by  which 
they  ultimately  reached  the  head  of  a  stream  two  leagues  far- 
ther, where  there  was  a  small  pool  of  excellent  water  said  to 
be  constantly  used  by  the  Indians,  who  are  very  careful  in 
their  descriptions  of  so  important  a  feature  as  their  water 
supply.  At  this  point,  67  leagues  from  Villa  Concepcion,  is 
an  Indian  toldo  which  is  quite  old,  and  the  number  of  people 
in  it  would  exhaust  the  water  in  a  week  if  there  were  not  a 
constant  source  of  supply.  Along  the  stream  the  country  is 
hilly,  but  the  hills  are  not  more  than  100  to  150  feet  in  height. 
On  either  bank  of  the  river  is  an  open  space  200  to  300  meters 
wide.  The  soil  is  sandy  and  porous,  and  pasture  is  intermixed 
with  leguminous  plants.  The  settlement  is  on  a  highway  for 
the  Indians,  and  on  it  they  invariably  carry  gourds  filled  with 
water.  At  the  same  time,  the  large  amount  of  fresh-appearing 
vegetation  would  indicate  water  at  a  slight  depth  below  the 
surface. 

For  the  next  seven  leagues  the  land  falls  slightly,  the  montes 
are  not  so  rich  in  valuable  timber,  and  water  is  quite  absent.  At 
two  villages  in  this  stretch  Indian  settlements  were  encoun- 
tered where  the  water  was  drawn  from  pools  in  the  heart  of 
montes  near  the  village — an  unusual  situation  for  the  pools 
though  the  water  was  permanent;  and  about  one  of  the  pools 


CATTLE  TRADE  223 

were  growing  plants,  somewhat  like  water  lilies,  and  grasses, 
while  a  short  distance  away  the  trees  looked  parched  and  dry. 
At  one  of  the  villages  there  were  about  forty  Indians,  one  or 
two  horses,  and  a  small  flock  of  goats  and  sheep.  The  surface 
of  the  water  pool  upon  which  this  settlement  depended  was 
not  more  than  12  meters  square  and  shallow;  but  the  village 
was  old,  and  the  spring  was  the  only  source  of  water.  It  was 
not  a  bubbling  spring,  such  as  one  will  find  in  the  mountains 
or  in  favorable  situations  where  there  is  a  descent  from  higher 
ground,  but  merely  a  pool.  In  these  montes  there  are  water- 
holding  plants  particularly  useful  to  man  and  beast  in  the 
eastern  Chaco. 

Farther  on,  or  more  than  200  miles  in  a  straight  line  west  of 
Villa  Concepcion,  the  country  continues  dry,  and  palms  appear 
plentifully,  indicating  a  lower  level  of  the  land.  In  no  other 
part  of  the  Chaco  do  springs  occur,  at  least  in  the  knowledge  of 
my  informant,  who  believes  that  the  line  of  springs  is  due  to 
uplift  and  erosion  and  thus  exposure  at  the  surface  of  a  water- 
bearing stratum.  Under  these  circumstances  no  intensive 
agriculture  and  no  intensive  use  of  the  pasture  land  of  the 
interior  of  the  Chaco  can  be  expected  until  well  borings  are 
made  that  bring  to  the  surface  the  abundant  water  apparently 
existing  underground.  The  water  must  be  distributed  in  a 
manner  that  improves  on  nature  before  stock  farms  can  be 
developed  and  cattle  driven,  as  they  must  be  for  many  years, 
to  the  river  or  the  railway. 

The  Indian  Population  in  Relation  to  Labor 

The  interior  of  the  Chaco  is  not  yet  a  safe  place  either  for 
agriculture  or  for  stock  raising.  Parts  of  it  are  inhabited  by  the 
Matacos  and  Tobas  Indians,  the  former  occupying  approxi- 
mately the  upper  courses  of  the  Pilcomayo  and  Bermejo  and 
the  latter  the  middle  and  lower  courses.  The  Tobas  long  had 
one  of  the  worst  reputations  of  all  Indian  groups  in  South 
America.  Matacos,  closely  related  to  the  Tobas,  also  made 
raiding  expeditions  out  of  the  Chaco  upon  the  pack  trains 
and  oxcarts  that  went  up  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Tucuman, 


224  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Salta,  and  Jujuy  in  the  colonial  period  and  indeed  down  to 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  Along  the  main  line  of  travel 
there  was  little  danger  of  molestation  from  the  Indians;  but 
toward  the  north,  where  the  trail  ran  nearest  the  Chaco  coun- 
try, the  Indians  were  held  in  check  only  by  force.  At  Salta  and 
other  places  near  or  on  the  mountain  border,  fortified  places 
were  built.  The  fort  of  Cobos,  a  few  leagues  from  Salta,  was  an 
outpost  against  the  Chaco  Indians,  its  garrison  being  sup- 
ported by  excise  fees  on  each  head  of  mule  leaving  the  town. 

According  to  Boman,  during  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and 
eighteenth  centuries  the  Tobas  occupied  the  forests  of  the 
San  Francisco  valley,  which  runs  northeast  of  Salta  to  join 
the  Bermejo  below  Oran.  The  Tobas  were  then  nomadic  and 
were  the  principal  tribe  of  the  Chaco  in  contact  with  the 
Spanish.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Matacos 
invaded  the  region.  The  Tobas  near  the  mountains  were  dis- 
placed and  retired  toward  the  interior  of  the  Chaco.  The 
Matacos  are  still  today  masters  of  the  forest  environment  in 
the  upper  Bermejo.^ °° 

The  labor  requirements  of  the  sugar  estates,  the  attractions 
of  the  merchandise  of  the  white  man,  and  particularly  his 
control  of  the  brandy  supply,  have  conspired  to  weaken  the 
Matacos,  to  diminish  their  numbers,  and  to  bring  them  into 
peaceful  pursuits.  The  Chaquefios,  or  ranchmen  and  mer- 
chants who  have  gone  to  the  Chaco  settlements  for  trade,  the 
purchase  of  cattle,  and  the  opening  up  of  estates,  now  furnish 
the  outposts  in  which  labor  is  recruited  for  the  plantations  of 
northern  Argentina.  Expeditions  still  go  into  the  Chaco  to 
obtain  labor.  They  visit  the  most  isolated  communities  for 
the  purpose  of  enticing  laborers  through  the  promise  or  the 
gift  of  brandy,  tobacco,  implements,  and  cotton  textiles.  But 
it  is  hazardous  business.  Ten  out  of  a  group  of  fifteen  who  went 
in  on  such  a  mission  in  1913  were  killed.  An  Indian  who  comes 
in  to  the  sugar  estates  for  work  is  called  peon  de  campo  and 
gets  $45  Argentine  a  month,  or  $15  to  $20  in  our  money.  Meat 
and  rice  is  almost  his  entire  diet,  while  both  there  and  at 

100  Eric  Boman:  Antiquites  de  la  region  andine  de  la  Republique  Argentine  et  du 
Desert  d'Atacama,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1908;  reference  in  Vol.  i,  p.  78. 


CATTLE  TRADE  225 

home  he  consumes  the  prevailing  ch'ink,  mate.  The  plant  is 
called  yerba  in  the  field  and  mate  only  when  it  is  prepared  for 
steeping.  It  is  supposed  to  prevent  scurvy  among  the  meat- 
eating  Argentinians  of  the  Chaco. 

The  laborers  are  required  principally  on  the  sugar  estates, 
a  line  of  which  has  been  developed  along  the  railway  between 
Embarcacion  and  Giiemes.  Some  forty  years  or  so  ago  the 
first  of  these  estates  were  organized,  when  everything  that 
was  brought  thither,  from  supplies  to  heavy  machinery, 
had  to  be  transported  by  oxcart  from  the  end  of  the  railway 
at  Tucuman.  When  the  railway  was  extended  to  Giiemes  this 
town  became  the  base,  and  later  Perico.  It  was  only  about 
twelve  years  ago  that  the  railway  actually  passed  the  doors 
of  the  estates,  so  to  speak.  With  the  coming  of  the  railway 
new  companies  have  sprung  up  that  have  developed  the  neigh- 
boring lands  irrigable  from  the  mountain  streams,  for  the  line 
of  the  railway  is  near  the  line  of  break  between  mountains  and 
plains.  The  belt  of  sugar  land  is  capable  of  early  and  great 
development  northward  as  far  as  there  is  available  water  and 
yet  an  absence  of  dense  forest.  Santa  Cruz  is  on  the  southern 
edge  of  a  wet  belt  that  extends  northward  with  increasing 
rainfall  until  it  merges  into  the  zone  of  dense  jungle  and 
forest  that  embraces  the  eastern  Andean  mountain  slopes 
and  the  Amazonian  plain.  From  the  Rio  Grande  at  Santa 
Cruz  southward  to  Yacuiba  is  a  belt  of  relatively  dry  country 
with  irrigation  possible  only  in  a  narrow  zone  at  the  base  of 
the  mountain,  and  the  adjacent  plain  is  grass  covered.  From 
Yacuiba  southward  to  Embarcacion  there  extends  a  wetter 
zone.  Still  farther  south,  at  Tucuman,  irrigation  is  the  rule, 
and  the  Chaco  forest  climbs  up  the  hill  slopes  and  appears  as  a 
belt  of  dense  green  between  the  cold  arid  belt  above  and  the 
hot  arid  belt  below  (Fig.  86,  p.  253). 

The  sugar  estates,  even  as  far  south  as  Cordoba,  employ  a 
great  deal  of  Indian  labor,  and  this  is  the  source  of  the  labor 
expeditions  into  the  Chaco  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  Indian 
peons.  I  talked  with  the  captain  of  one  of  these  parties  who  is 
accustomed  to  take  a  dozen  or  more  leading  laborers  from  the 
sugar  estates  and  go  in  with  presents  to  distribute  to  the 


226  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Indians.  He  travels  right  across  the  Chaco  to  the  Pilcomayo 
and  all  through  the  Bermejo  country.  As  far  as  possible,  the 
Bolivian  government  keeps  a  strict  watch  in  each  of  the  prin- 
cipal valleys  to  prevent  the  Chaco  Indians  from  coming 
across  the  frontier  into  Argentina,  for  it  wishes  to  keep  its 
labor  supply  at  home.  While  this  is  not  a  very  effective  means 
of  stopping  the  drain  upon  its  Indian  population,  it  at  least 
prevents  any  wholesale  movement  of  the  Indians ;  such  as  come 
must  use  the  roundabout  trails  in  the  daytime  or  sneak  across 
the  boundary  at  night.  They  remain  on  the  sugar  estates  for 
what  they  call  a  cane  season,  of  several  months  to  half  a  year, 
and  then  go  back  to  their  homes.  Though  their  rate  of  pay  is 
specified,  they  are  actually  paid  in  merchandise.  Formerly 
they  were  given  guns  and  ammunition  but  not  now  for  the  gov- 
ernment prohibits  the  sale  of  firearms.  They  are  supplied 
with  knives,  tobacco,  shirts,  trousers,  brandy,  and  a  horse 
apiece.    They  are  good  workmen  after  their  fashion. 

At  home  the  Matacos  live  in  tolderias,  or  villages,  of  a  few  to 
forty  families.  In  the  interior  of  the  Chaco  country  the  told- 
erias are  larger  than  those  on  the  frontier,  but  whenever  they 
are  near  a  white  settlement  the  whites  prevent  their  growth  to 
great  size  for  fear  of  an  attack.  The  huts  of  the  Indians  are 
of  bamboo  and  grass;  they  live  in  them  only  so  long  as  they 
stay  in  a  given  place,  but  they  travel  about  a  good  deal  be- 
tween growing  seasons,  settling  in  likely  spots  that  take  their 
fancy.  At  one  of  their  settlements  there  will  be  a  small  patch 
of  corn,  generally  near  a  water  hole  or  spring,  and  otherwise 
they  depend  upon  the  sale  of  their  cattle  for  food.  They  also 
have  a  few  native  vegetables.  Almost  every  tolderia  has  at 
least  one  person  who  speaks  Spanish.  They  make  a  strong 
drink  from  the  bean  of  the  algarrobo  and  as  they  obtain  the 
most  effective  action  from  this  drink  only  when  they  chew 
tobacco,  they  appreciate  a  present  of  tobacco  more  than  any- 
thing else.  If  a  white  man  looking  for  labor  gives  them  pres- 
ents other  than  tobacco  they  are  not  always  on  hand  to  return 
value  in  labor;  but  if  the  present  is  tobacco  they  consider  its 
acceptance  as  a  contract  for  work.  In  each  tribe  the  chief 
desires  horses  and  especially  a  canvas  tent  in  place  of  a  hut. 


'--j>.^ 


CATTLE  TRADE  227 

From  labor  gatherers,  missionaries,  and  railway  engineers 
of  different  nationalities  whom  I  interviewed,  both  here  and 
elsewhere  in  Argentina,  and  who  have  had  first-hand  experi- 
ence in  cattle  driving,  cattle  purchase,  and  the  gathering 
of  laborers,  I  have  obtained  an  average  estimate  of  fifty  or 
sixty  thousand  Indians  as  the  population  of  the  whole  of  the 
Chaco  from  the  Corumba-Santa  Cruz  line  southward  to  the 
Bermejo.  Even  if  we  multiply  this  by  three  we  have  a  very 
limited  population  and  one  that  will  have  to  be  conserved  and 
strengthened  in  order  to  make  possible  the  development  of 
either  the  Chaco  or  its  borderlands.  It  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance that  the  governments  concerned  and  also  the  contractors 
for  the  sugar  estates  and  ranches  should  understand  the  labor 
problem  clearly.  Imported  labor  cannot  be  depended  upon 
until  settlement  is  more  or  less  continuous  and  the  conditions 
of  life  far  easier  than  they  are  today.  It  is  the  native  laborer 
rather  than  the  immigrant  that  must  do  the  rough  work.  To 
demoralize  the  native  Indian's  social  life,  to  destroy  his  energy 
with  brandy,  to  take  his  lands  without  offering  him  a  certain 
amount  of  fostering  care,  is  to  bring  about  his  end  and  to 
check  development  along  the  whole  of  this  important  frontier. 

The  Bermejo  Region 

On  the  way  back  from  Embarcacion  I  was  particularly  in- 
terested in  the  Bermejo  River  and  at  the  crossing  noticed  rafts 
in  process  of  construction  for  the  taking  of  merchandise  down 
river  at  times  of  high  water  to  towns  on  the  river  bank.  These 
are  small  settlements  scattered  here  and  there,  and,  according 
to  the  experienced  merchants  whom  I  saw,  their  supplies  come 
almost  wholly  in  this  way.  The  men  who  take  the  rafts  down- 
stream sell  the  lumber  at  the  settlements  and  come  back  over- 
land. None  of  these  towns  exceed  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants 
in  size.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Bermejo,  where  it  runs  into  the 
Paraguay,  is  Puerto  Bermejo. 

Small  river  steamers  go  up  the  Bermejo  about  300  miles  to 
trade  with  the  settlements  and  towns.  Twenty-ton  steamers 
go  up  250  miles,  as  far  as  Juntas,  where  the  Teuco  and  the  old 


228  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Bermejo  join.  Larger  boats  are  apt  to  be  caught  by  falling 
water.  A  sixty-ton  steamboat  is  now  lying  wrecked  at  Riva- 
davia  on  the  old  Bermejo,  having  been  caught  thus.  The  old 
channel  formerly  carried  most  of  the  water,  and  though  it  was 
narrow  it  could  be  navigated.  But  the  river  overflowed  its 
banks,  forming  a  new  channel;  and  the  whole  of  the  current 
is  now  carried  by  the  new  channel,  which  is  called  the  New 
Bermejo  or  Teuco.  At  the  railroad  crossing  the  river  bed  is 
half  a  mile  wide,  but  the  river  at  the  time  I  saw  it  was  much 
narrower,  occupying  only  one  quarter  of  the  width  of  its  bed 
so  that  broad  yellow  and  white  patches  of  gravel  and  sand  lay 
in  sheets  on  either  side  of  the  curves,  making  a  natural  path- 
way down  through  the  forest  which  grows  in  thick  stands  on 
either  bank.  Where  I  saw  the  forest  it  was  quite  variable  in 
character,  now  consisting  of  trees  whose  trunks  were  forty 
to  fifty  feet  in  height  and  with  even  stands  of  one  or  two 
types  of  trees,  again  consisting  of  tall  and  short  trees  mixed 
with  or  without  undergrowth.  It  grows  densest  in  the  low 
places  and  along  the  river  banks  and  becomes  thinner,  with 
grasses  appearing  here  and  there,  as  one  goes  toward  slight 
elevations  or  comes  into  the  gravelly  zone  nearer  the  moun- 
tains, where  the  ground  water  lies  at  a  lower  level. 

Such  is  the  frontier  region  in  which  Argentina  is  now  extend- 
ing her  important  sugar  belt  and  from  which  she  draws  an  in- 
creasing number  of  cattle  for  the  heavy  demands  of  her  own 
market  and  that  of  her  neighbor,  Chile. 

Embarcacion  as  a  Cattle  Station 

At  the  village  of  Embarcacion  one  sees  long  lines  of  freight 
cars  loaded  with  bellowing  cattle  that  make  the  place  noisy  day 
and  night.  They  are  long-horned  stock  from  the  Chaco.  Some 
of  them  are  driven  for  great  distances,  and  the  first  stage  of 
their  journey  is  ended  at  the  railway  yards  at  Embarcacion. 
They  are  not  fed  on  alfalfa  or  bred  for  fine  points.  They  are 
strong,  large-boned  beasts  raised  in  the  scrub  and  coarse 
pastures  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  accustomed  to  travel  long  dis- 
tances, to  do  without  water  for  a  day  or  two  at  a  time,  and  to 


CATTLE  TRADE 


229 


Fig.  70 


Fig.  71 

Fig.  70 — The  gaucho  of  the  Gran  Chaco.  The  huge  leather  flaps  hung  over  the 
saddle  in  front  of  the  rider  are  for  protection  against  the  thorny  scrub  that  forms 
a  part  of  the  Gran  Chaco.   They  are  called  guardamontes . 

Fig.  71 — Long-horned  cattle  from  the  Gran  Chaco  assembled  at  Embarcacion 
for  shipment  to  Salta.  Herds  of  these  cattle  are  driven  westward  across  the 
Andes  into  the  Desert  of  Atacama. 


230  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

stand  the  sun  and  the  rain.  They  are  thus  naturally  fitted  for 
the  hazards  of  an  overland  journey  through  difficult  country. 

During  the  time  that  I  spent  at  Embarcacion  a  number  of 
troops  of  cattle  arrived  at  the  place.  The  photograph  (Fig.  70) 
shows  the  type  of  cowboy,  or  gaucho,  engaged  in  the  cattle 
business.  The  curious  broad  flaps  on  either  side  of  the  saddle 
are  the  guardamontes  which  the  gaucho  wears  as  a  protection. 
It  is  made  of  thick  cowhide  and  is  stiff  and  tough.  In  addition 
to  it  he  wears  a  coleto,  made  of  soft  hide,  very  flexible  and 
agreeable  to  the  touch,  which  is  carried  most  of  the  time  folded 
across  his  saddle.  When  he  is  out  in  the  scrub  chasing  cattle 
the  coleto  is  thrown  over  head,  shoulders,  and  back,  and  pro- 
tected by  this  and  the  guardamontes  in  front  of  him  on  the  sad- 
dle he  can  gallop  along  without  fear  of  being  scratched  by  the 
thorny  scrub  through  which  he  must  ride  in  order  to  round  up 
the  cattle.  At  night  he  sleeps  on  the  guardmontes  and  covers 
himself  with  the  coleto.  He  eats  only  charqui  (jerked  beef)  and 
rice,  with  a  little  corn.  The  group  that  I  saw  consisted  of  about 
ten  boys  and  a  man.  The  company  had  received  their  pay  and 
were  setting  off  in  a  most  light-hearted  and  casual  manner 
upon  their  long  journey  of  250  miles  on  the  home  trail  to  the 
Pilcomayo,  whence  they  had  come.  They  were  Indian  and 
Spanish  half-breeds  or  quarter-breeds.  Their  pay  was  about 
40  pesos  a  month. 

The  cattle  are  driven  in  to  the  railroad  station  from  Feb- 
ruary to  August.  After  that  it  is  too  dry  for  the  business,  for 
there  is  little  grass  to  keep  them  in  condition  and  water  is  too 
scarce,  the  watering  places  being  too  far  apart.  A  drove  of  sev- 
eral hundred  is  in  charge  of  five  or  ten  mounted  boys  and  men. 
The  Chaco  cattle  fetch  75  or  80  pesos  apiece  at  Embarcacion, 
and  it  costs  4  pesos  a  head  to  ship  them  to  Salta.  They  are 
sold  to  mountain  drivers  at  about  115  pesos  apiece. 

Stages  in  the  Driving  of  Cattle  to  the  Nitrate  Fields 

After  being  fattened  in  the  cornfields  and  alfalfa  meadows  of 
Salta  the  cattle  are  gathered  in  troops  of  50  to  100  each  and 
under  the  care  of  drovers  are  taken  first  over  the  lower  ranges 


CATTLE  TRADE  231 

of  the  Pre-Cordillera.  Some  difficult  going  is  experienced  on 
the  gravelly  cactus-dotted  alluvial  plains  and  basin  floors  that 
lie  between  Salta  and  the  eastern  mountain  wall  of  the  lofty 
Puna  de  Atacama  in  this  the  third  stage  of  their  long  journey. 
The  trails  however  are  selected  so  as  to  make  the  best  use  of 
such  water  and  grass  as  the  region  affords.  They  strike  the 
irrigated  tracts  in  the  valleys  along  the  eastern  border  of  the 
mountains  where  the  cattle  may  be  rested  and  turned  into 
fresh  pastures  to  be  well  fed  before  the  fourth  stage  of  the  jour- 
ney. In  these  high  valleys  the  cattle  also  become  somewhat 
accustomed  to  the  altitude  and  the  cold,  for  the  climate  is  here 
temperate  instead  of  subtropical  as  in  the  Chaco  from  which 
they  have  come. 

Once  prepared  for  the  journey,  they  then  enter  the  fourth 
stage,  that  of  climbing  the  eastern  mountain  wall  and  crossing 
the  Puna  de  Atacama.  It  seems  at  first  an  incredible  feat  that 
they  are  required  to  perform.  The  trails  are  stony  and  steep, 
and  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  days  at  most  the  droves  of  cattle 
find  themselves  upon  the  bleak,  wind-swept  puna  where  only 
the  coarsest  grasses  and  widely  scattered  watering  places  may 
be  found.  Finely  bred  stock  would  perish  at  once;  but  these 
hardy  beasts  are  able  to  go  two  or  three  days  without  water,  as 
they  must  in  the  most  difficult  sections  of  the  puna.  They 
travel  only  about  fifteen  miles  a  day,  lumbering  along  in  heavy 
fashion,  bellowing  now  and  then,  straying  whenever  possible, 
yet  urged  forward  relentlessly  by  the  mounted  gauchos.  An 
occasional  one  becomes  sick  and  is  left  behind  when  it  can 
no  longer  be  goaded  on.  Once  abandoned  it  perishes.  Almost 
every  mile  of  the  trail  is  marked  by  skeletons  picked  clean  by 
the  condors. 

The  cattlemen  are  Indians  or  half-breeds  from  the  Salta  re- 
gion or  the  bordering  valleys.  They  know  all  the  trails  and  wa- 
tering places,  and  they  know  what  the  cattle  can  stand.  Their 
fare  consists  of  charqui  chiino  (dried  potatoes),  rice,  and  a 
few  vegetables  for  soup.  They  carry  no  tents,  but  sleep  on  the 
saddle  blankets  of  the  mules,  of  which  they  take  along  a  few 
as  riding  and  baggage  animals.  They  wear  ponchos  as  a  pro- 
tection from  the  wind;  and,  skillful  as  they  are,  they  find  diffi- 


232  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

culty  in  the  worst  places  in  keeping  the  cattle  going.  This  is 
chiefly  because  of  the  wind.  In  the  Gran  Chaco,  whence  the 
cattle  have  come,  the  southeast  wind  prevails.  It  is  a  soft, 
warm  wind,  dry  or  wet  according  to  the  season,  and  affects  the 
cattle  but  little,  for  they  do  not  graze  upon  wide  open  plains 
but  upon  patches  of  campo  scattered  here  and  there  among 
woodland  or  forest  tracts.  On  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  however, 
the  northwest  wind  prevails.  Though  the  mornings  are  calm, 
the  wind  rises  to  gale  strength  in  the  late  forenoon  and  by  mid- 
afternoon  is  blowing  with  great  violence,  carrying  sand  and 
dust  in  considerable  volume  and  weakening  man  and  beast  by 
its  great  force  and  low  temperature.  At  times  it  blows  all  day 
at  freezing  or  just  a  little  above  freezing  temperatures.  When 
it  comes  laden  with  snow  or  dust  it  is  called  viento  bianco  and 
envelops  the  herds  of  cattle  and  the  horsemen  and  makes  going 
exceedingly  difficult.  When  it  blows  with  greatest  violence  the 
cattle  tend  to  break  and  run,  seeking  shelter  one  by  one  or  in 
groups  under  the  lee  of  large  rocks  or  ridges  or  in  tributary 
valleys  off  the  main  trail.  To  keep  the  cattle  together  and  not 
to  lose  ground  by  having  them  run  before  the  wind  is  often  a 
difficult  task,  though  it  becomes  less  difficult  as  the  western 
border  of  the  mountains  is  reached,  for  the  beasts  are  then  so 
tired  and  enfeebled  that  they  are  glad  to  lie  down  at  every 
opportunity.  Thus  they  arrive  at  the  western  crest  of  the 
Cordillera  and  begin  the  long  descent  toward  the  desert  settle- 
ments, particularly  that  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama. 

It  takes  thirteen  to  fourteen  days  for  cattle  to  be  driven  from 
Salta  to  San  Pedro  de  Atacama.  They  wait  at  San  Pedro  one 
or  two  days,  according  to  the  need  for  beef  at  the  nitrate 
establishments,  as  well  as  their  own  condition,  which  depends 
largely  upon  the  weather  they  have  experienced  in  crossing  the 
Puna.  The  days  of  waiting  are  called  "la  tablada."  In  this 
time  the  cattle  are  fed  liberally,  and  if  any  of  them  are  ailing  or 
footsore  they  receive  the  attention  of  a  veterinary.  From  San 
Pedro  it  takes  three  days  to  drive  them  to  the  nitrate  establish- 
ments, and  the  men  return  in  two  days  more,  receiving  45 
pesos  Chilean  for  the  five  days'  work.  On  the  return  they  rest 
from  three  days  to  a  week  at  San  Pedro  or  work  in  the  fields 


CATTLE  TRADE 


233 


Fig.  72 


Fig.  73 

Fig.  72 — A  drove  of  cattle  on  the  trail  across  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  near  the 
pass  in  the  main  chain  of  the  Cordillera  de  los  Andes  above  Socaire  (southeast  of 
San  Pedro  de  Atacama). 

Fig.  73 — Chaco  cattle  on  the  broad  cattle  trail  near  the  edge  of  the  Salar  de 
Atacama  en  route  to  the  alfalfa  meadows  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  and  the 
nitrate  desert  farther  north.     They  have  just  crossed  the  high  cordillera. 


234  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

there,  where  they  are  paid  2  pesos  apiece  for  feeding  the  beasts, 
digging  out  the  irrigating  canals,  etc.  If  there  is  snow  in  the 
mountains  they  may  remain  longer.  The  men  carry  some  al- 
falfa and  dry  barley  in  small  quantities  with  their  mules,  and 
at  Soncor  they  have  to  pay  for  the  feed  of  their  horses,  which  is 
one  reason  why  that  settlement  has  been  long  maintained. 

Details  of  Routes 

Sefior  Alvarez,  who  is  one  of  the  chief  men  in  the  cattle  busi- 
ness at  San  Pedro,  has  furnished  me  with  a  schedule  of  the  five 
principal  cattle  routes  across  the  Puna  as  follows,  and  the 
points  he  gives  are  all  indicated  upon  Bertrand's  map  of  1884 
entitled  "  Mapa  de  las  Cordilleras  en  el  Desierto  de  Atacama  y 
rejiones  adyacentes :"  ^"^ 

I.  From  Salta  via  Quebrada  del  Toro,  Golgota,  and  Cebada 
(where  there  is  pasture),  Tactil  (not  Tastil  as  usually 
written),  Cuevas,  Chorrillos,  Cauchari,  Catua,  Guaiti- 
quina,  Puntas  Negras,  Aguas  Calientes,  Lejias,  Pajo- 
nal,  Soncor,  Aguas  Blancas,  Tambillo,  and  San  Pedro. 

II.  From  Catua,  Loslo,  Chamaca,  Hecar  (pasture  here), 
Toconao  or  Aguas  Blancas  to  San  Pedro.  Few  cattle 
go  over  this  route. 

III.  Via  Incahuasi  (from  Rincon)  to  Socaire  (where  there  is  a 
little  pasture  and  alfalfa  for  sale),  Quetena,  and  Carva- 
jal  (where  there  is  pasture  and  water)  to  San  Pedro. 

IV.  From  Jujuy  to  San  Pedro.  This  is  similar  in  character  to 
Route  I. 

•  V.  From  Jujuy  to  La  Quiaca  to  Uyuni — thence  by  train  to 
Antofagasta.  This  route  is  used  only  when  the  puna 
and  the  sierra  are  closed  with  snow. 

In  1 912  an  experiment  was  made  by  Abaroa  Brothers  and  A. 
Cerruti  who  sent  cattle  from  Salta  up  to  Catua  or  San  Antonio 
de  los  Cobres.  They  were  driven  north  to  Quetena  and  thence 

101  Alejandro  Bertrand:  Memoria  sobre  la  exploracion  a  las  Cordilleras  del  Desierto 
de  Atacama  efectuada  en  los  meses  de  enero  a  abril  de  1884,  Anuario  Hidrogr.  de  la 
Marine  de  Chile,  Vol.  10,  1885,  pp.  1-299  (map  scale  1:1,000,000). 


CATTLE  TRADE  235 

westward  across  the  Maritime  Cordillera  to  Chiuchiu  and 
Calama;  but  the  journey  required  eighteen  to  twenty  days,  and 
of  the  60  cattle  that  started  all  but  28  were  lost. 

The  fame  that  San  Pedro  has  long  enjoyed  and  the  facilities 
it  has  for  accommodating  transient  herds  and  droves  attract 
the  stockmen  of  Catamarca,  La  Rioja,  San  Luis,  and  Cordoba. 
For  years  they  have  sent  droves  of  mules  to  be  sold  in  the 
nitrate  oficinas  of  the  coastal  desert  farther  north,  but  if  they 
cannot  sell  them  at  a  set  price  they  turn  northeast  at  Chiuchiu, 
east  of  Calama,  and  go  up  over  the  Maritime  Cordillera  to  the 
great  annual  fair  at  Huari.  The  completion  of  the  Antofagasta 
railroad  has  greatly  disturbed  this  traffic.  In  place  of  mule 
transport  there  is  now  railroad  transport,  and  the  completion 
of  the  railroad  itself  liberated  a  great  number  of  mules  from 
the  work  of  construction.  Where  200  to  300  formerly  went 
up  to  Huari  there  are  now  sent  only  about  100  or  150.  They 
are  driven  across  the  cordillera  principally  in  December, 
January,  and  February.  They  come  in  from  the  pampas  to 
Catamarca,  where  they  winter  and  get  accustomed  to  the 
altitudes  and  are  sent  to  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  by  way  of 
Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra  (Fig.  i). 


CHAPTER  XII 
SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 

Upon  the  western  side  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  where  the 
main  chain  of  the  cordillera  surmounts  it,  is  a  line  of  settle- 
ments of  which  the  first  (from  the  north)  is  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama.  With  elevation  of  8000  feet  it  is  neither  a  high 
plateau  town  like  San  Cristobal  de  Lipez  (14,300  feet)  nor  a 
desert  valley  town  like  Copiapo  (3000  feet)  or  Ouillagua  (2000 
feet).  Its  site  is  so  elevated  that  snow  has  been  known  to  fall; 
yet  the  daytime  temperatures  are  of  the  high  desert  type.  It 
lies  in  a  desert  basin  midway  between  the  cold  puna  and  the 
desert  pampa.  We  have  already  mentioned  the  town  in  the 
preceding  chapter  in  connection  with  the  cattle  business  across 
the  cordillera. 

Comparison  with  Other  Border  Settlements 

San  Pedro  is  the  counterpart  of  Salta  on  the  east,  for  it 
represents  a  focus  of  trade  between  the  mountains  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  desert  and  the  Pacific  coast  on  the  other,  just  as 
Salta  and  similar  towns  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Andes  are  a 
focus  of  trade  for  the  mountain  valleys  and  adjacent  plains. 
So  far  as  the  mountain  trade  is  concerned,  Salta  acts  as  a 
collecting  center  for  shipment  to  the  western  side  of  the  moun- 
tains and  to  Buenos  Aires,  just  as  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  acts 
as  a  distributing  center  for  cattle  driven  to  nitrate  establish- 
ments and  settlements  on  the  railway  and  to  scattered  mines. 

In  the  case  of  San  Pedro  there  is  a  degree  of  isolation  which 
Salta  does  not  have,  for  Salta  has  the  railway  and  its  life  is 
much  more  vigorous  and  active.  Salta  lies  upon  the  eastern, 
better-watered  slope  of  the  Andes  rather  than  upon  the  dry, 
desertic  western  slope  and  basin  country.  Yet  both  towns  have 
a  certain  similarity  in  history  and  in  pre-railway  life,  and  be- 
tween them  is  similarity  of  ideas  and  businesses  associated 
with  life  upon  the  frontier.  Both  are  old  settlements,  dating 
back  to  the  earliest  colonial  period.   Both  have  a  high  propor- 

236 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 


237 


tion  of  white  residents  born  outside  tlic  district.  Each  has 
been  the  center  of  a  certain  amount  of  revolutionary  ferment 
and  the  refuge  of  those  who  sought  to  escape  from  persecution 
by  officials  of  a  rival  administration.  Men  come  and  go  for  po- 
litical reasons  in  such  situations  in  a  manner  to  which  we  are 
not  at  all  accustomed  in  this  country.   One  sees  the  same  thing 


Fig.  74 — Conde  Duque,  the  principal  settlement  of  the  many  that  go  under  the 
collective  name  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama.  The  view  is  across  the  valley  with  the 
main  chain  of  the  Andes  in  the  background. 


illustrated  in  many  places  in  South  America  on  opposite  sides 
of  a  boundary  line.  A  politician  in  difficulty  in  Peru  or  Bolivia 
may  flee  to  San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  as  those  in  political  dif- 
ficulty in  Chile  may  flee  to  Salta  on  the  other  side  of  the  moun- 
tains and  in  the  territory  of  another  sovereignty.  At  Puno  and 
Guaqui  at  the  opposite  ends  of  Lake  Titicaca,  the  one  in  Peru, 
the  other  in  Bolivia,  one  will  generally  find  little  groups  of 
political  refugees  who  find  it  healthier  for  the  time  being  to 
live  in  the  territory  of  a  neighboring  state. 

Because  of  its  remote  situation  (it  is  still  two  days'  journey 
from  the  railway)  San  Pedro  has  felt  but  little  the  effects  of  the 
general  economic  change  which  the  railway  has  brought  about 
elsewhere  and  which  produced  so  revolutionary  an  effect  in  the 
life  of  Calama  to  the  northwest  and  of  Salta  to  the  east.    Its 


238  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

credit  system,  its  modes  of  transport,  its  community  life,  the 
way  in  which  the  land  is  utilized,  the  coming  and  going  of  the 
nomadic  mountain  shepherds,  relations  with  tributary  oases 
scattered  in  still  more  remote  and  isolated  valleys  up  and  down 
the  western  flank  of  the  cordillera — all  these  give  it  a  distinc- 
tive quality,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  it  serves  as  an  example 
of  the  mode  of  organization  and  of  the  functioning  of  a  distant 
desert  town  tied  equally  to  the  great  wastes  of  highland  Ata- 
cama  and  the  lofty  mountains  and  to  the  distant  settlements 
beyond  them. 

Just  as  Copiapo  serves  to  illustrate  the  life  of  larger  com- 
munities based  on  irrigation  but  dependent  also  upon  mines 
and  railway,  so  San  Pedro  illustrates  the  structure  of  the 
smaller  communities  distant  from  the  railway  and  resting 
their  economic  life  upon  the  old  and  primitive  means  on  which 
they  have  depended  ever  since  their  foundation  centuries  ago. 

The  dependence  of  the  shepherds  upon  the  high  pasture 
along  the  western  flank  of  the  Andes  and  also  the  local  pastures 
on  the  eastern  slopes  and  basins  of  the  main  chain  that  forms 
the  international  boundary  makes  it  difificult  to  administer  a 
customs  service  precisely  upon  the  boundary  line,  for  the  site 
is  both  cold  and  inaccessible.  The  shepherds  pay  no  attention 
to  the  boundary  in  fact,  and  both  Argentinian  and  Chilean 
slopes  of  the  Western  Cordillera  are  tributary  to  San  Pedro. 
The  customhouse  is  not  located  in  the  settlements  at  the  base 
of  the  mountains  but  is  near  Tambillo,  where  the  trails  from  the 
mountains  converge  toward  San  Pedro.  The  duty  upon 
Argentine  sheep  driven  across  the  international  boundary  into 
Chile  is  4  pesos  Chilean  per  sheep  and  40  or  50  pesos  per 
100  pounds  of  wool. 

Economic  Life  of  the  Oasis 

On  account  of  the  dependence  of  San  Pedro  upon  the  cattle 
trade,  the  proposed  railway  across  the  mountains  by  way  of 
the  Guaitiquina  gorge  meets  with  disfavor  here,  for  if  it 
reached  the  coast  by  running  south  of  the  salar  it  would  divert 
to  another  route  the  cattle  trade,  now  the  chief  transport  busi- 
ness of  the  town  and  the  chief  support  of  the  alfalfa  industry. 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 


239 


Fig.  75 


Fig.  76 

Fig.  75 — Oasis  of  Soncor,  western  border  of  the  Maritime  Cordillera,  Chile, 
where  a  small  mountain  stream  terminates  near  the  edge  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama. 

Fig.  76 — The  Chilean  customhouse,  not  on  the  crest  of  the  Western  Cordillera 
where  runs  the  boundary  between  Chile  and  Peru,  nor  yet  at  the  first  line  of 
settlements  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  but  at  the  northeastern  margin  of  the 
Salar  de  Atacama  where  the  mountain  trails  converge  before  entering  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama. 


240  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Alfalfa  is  sold  chiefly  to  the  cattle  drivers  that  pass  through, 
immense  quantities  of  it  being  stacked  up  at  convenient  points 
near  a  water  supply,  with  stone  or  mud  fences  about  to  keep 
the  droves  within  bounds.  Fruit  is  produced  in  large  quanti- 
ties and  sold  to  the  nitrate  establishments  on  the  distant 
pampa  toward  the  west.  Pears,  apples,  grapes,  figs,  quinces — • 
these  are  the  chief  products,  and  they  constitute  the  principal 
fruit  crop  of  Toconao  as  well  (Fig.  i).  The  latter  town  is  a 
day's  journey,  or  25  miles,  from  San  Pedro  and  is  celebrated 
not  only  for  its  fruit  but  for  the  clearness  and  purity  of  its 
water.  About  a  dozen  well-to-do  families  at  San  Pedro  send 
peons  to  Toconao  to  obtain  drinking  water,  brought  in  casks 
on  mule  back. 

So  valuable  are  the  water  rights  at  San  Pedro  and  in  the 
towns  near  by  that  ajuez  de  aguas,  or  judge  of  water,  is  ap- 
pointed who  decides  how  much  water  each  landowner  is  to 
have.  In  the  driest  years  it  may  be  impossible  for  a  landowner 
to  irrigate  oftener  than  once  every  ninety  days,  though  in 
general  he  is  not  required  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  water  for 
more  than  sixty  days.  The  mountain  snowfalls  are  a  matter  of 
real  importance,  for  upon  them  depend  the  source  and  flow  of 
the  Rio  Atacama  that  quite  literally  "waters"  the  valley.  The 
snow  that  falls  In  the  Cordillera  about  the  3rd  of  May  is  called 
the  7ievada  de  la  Cruz,  and  that  which  falls  about  the  4th  of 
October  the  nevada  de  Cordonazo  de  San  Francisco.  Though 
snow  is  a  rarity  in  the  desert  it  fell  in  191 1  down  to  8000  feet 
(compare  p.  43).  In  the  oases  it  covered  orange  trees,  vege- 
table gardens,  and  grainfields  and  effected  a  glory  that  was  as 
novel  as  It  was  short-lived.  It  covered  the  mud  huts  thatched 
with  grain  straw  mixed  with  earth  and  on  melting  germinated 
the  seed,  so  that  more  than  one  householder  grew  a  small  crop 
of  wheat  and  barley  on  his  roof! 

Corn  is  planted  in  August  or  September.  Both  it  and  the 
fruit  may  freeze,  for  frosts  come  as  late  as  December  and  may 
work  grievous  Injury  to  the  growing  crops  and  necessitate 
replanting.  Furthermore,  the  crops  are  sometimes  destroyed 
by  hailstorms  which  occur  when  the  wheat  is  heading  and 
which  are  accompanied  by  thunder  and  lightning.   The  floods 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 


241 


in  the  river  last  but  several  hours  and  then  subside  rapidly. 
The  river  swells  only  at  times  of  general  rain,  and  it  then 
covers  the  whole  flood  plain  over  a  width  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 
Along  the  line  of  a  single  valley  are  strung  the  scattered 
plots  of  precious  watered  land.  Between  them  there  may  be 
nothing  but  gravel-strewn  stretches  of  valley  flat.   Hence  it  is 


Fig.  77 — Pingo-pingo,  a  wild  desert  shrub  common  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Desert  of  Atacama.   The  photograph  was  taken  near  San  Pedro  de  Atacama. 

natural  that  each  cultivated  tract  should  be  known  under  a 
different  name  and  give  its  name  to  a  part  of  the  valley.  The 
best  illustration  is  to  be  found  in  the  valley  of  Rio  Atacama. 
The  town  of  San  Pedro  de  x-Vtacama  has  about  500  people,  but 
all  about  it  (and  to  the  inexperienced  traveler  they  appear  a 
part  of  it)  are  scattered  groups  of  families  and  little  villages. 
All  told  they  raise  the  population  of  the  district  to  2000.  On 
the  maps  the  name  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  is  applied  to  the 
whole  collection  of  groups.  Each  cultivated  district,  or  aillo, 
has  a  distinct  name,  and  this  name  is  given  to  the  central 
pueblo  or  village  as  well,  the  use  of  the  word  aillo  apparently 
being  interchangeable  as  between  land  and  group.  Even  the 
largest  village  of  the  group  is  not  called  San  Pedro  but  Conde 
Duque.    For  two  leagues  above  this  nucleus  are  small  culti- 


242  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

vated  tracts/"-  Cucholrache,  Catarpe,  Tambillo,  Silo,  and 
Quito,  where  fruit  is  grown.  Extending  to  a  point  three  or 
four  leagues  below  are  Solar,  Earache,  Yaye,  Pacsar,  Checar, 
Sequitor,  Coyo,  Tulur,  Beter,  Poconche,  Solcor  and  Cucuter 
on  a  ridge  of  sand,  and  Tevinguicha  on  the  border  of  a  brackish 
swamp  due  to  seepage  from  the  piedmont  deposits.  Each 
tract  or  village  represents  some  natural  advantage.  Here  a 
group  of  algarrobo  trees  feed  on  the  ground  water  and  supply 
an  abundance  of  algarrobo  fruit.  There  a  clump  of  chaiiar 
trees  supplies  nuts  for  the  delectable  chafiar  meal.  On  the  edge 
of  the  swamp  of  Tevinguicha  is  pasture  to  be  rented  to  the  cat- 
tle drivers  from  across  the  cordillera.  The  soil  is  sandy  at  Cu- 
cuter, but  it  has  no  harmful  salts  and  if  watered  but  twice  a 
year  yields  good  crops.  At  Catarpe  are  warm  terraces  easy  to 
irrigate,  hence  beautiful  fruit  orchards. 

A  common  plant  upon  which  the  Indians  hereabout  depend 
for  fuel  is  the  green  chilca  bush,  used  for  firewood  and  for 
cover  to  the  earthen  walls  that  border  the  alfalfa  fields.  It 
grows  rank  where  there  is  abundant  water.  There  is  much  of 
it  at  Calama,  at  Aguas  Blancas,  and  on  the  alluvial  fan  at  San 
Pedro.  Near  the  water  also  is  a  species  of  acacia,  the  so- 
called  sauce  (willow),  of  which  some  fifty  or  sixty  varieties  are 
said  to  abound  in  the  neighborhood.  We  saw  this  tree  at  Poma 
also.  So  abundant  Is  the  pingo-pingo  (Fig.  77)  south  of  Ata- 
cama  that  Its  name  has  been  given  to  a  range  of  mountains.^ °^ 

San  Pedro  de  Atacama  Is  a  city  of  arrieros  (muleteers). 
Unlike  Its  tiny  neighbors  it  draws  upon  outside  resources. 
The  additional  population  which  It  supports  requires  food  In 
amounts  greater  than  the  land  can  yield.  Its  wants  are  more 
varied.  Through  it  also  flows  a  commerce  between  the  moun- 
tain peoples  and  the  outside  world.  At  San  Pedro  we  should 
therefore  expect  trading  customs  and  movement  of  population 
quite  distinct  from  the  feeble  movements  between  the  tiny 
oases.     From  their  valley  homes  and   upland   pastures  the 

^0-  The  spelling  of  these  place  names  was  supplied  by  Senor  Arturo  Alvarez  of  San 
Pedro  de  Atacama  and  differs  in  a  few  cases  from  a  similar  list  of  names  given  by 
Alejandro  Bertrand,  op.  cit.,  pp.  269-271. 

i"3  See  the  Atacama  sheet  of  the  American  Geographical  Society's  Millionth  Map  of 
Hispanic  America. 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 


243 


Fig.  78 


Fig.  79 


Fig.  78 — Winter  camp  of  mountain  shepherds  at  Aguas  Blancas  near  Soncor, 
Desert  of  Atacama,  9000  feet.    In  the  background  is  the  great  Salar  de  Atacama. 

Fig.  79 — Temporary  habitation  of  poles  and  branches  on  the  border  of  the 
oasis  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  used  by  mountain  shepherds  on  trading  journeys 
to  the  oasis. 


244  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

shepherds  come  for  the  supplies  of  chiino  (dried  potatoes), 
chaiiar,  dried  fruit,  wheat,  and  flour.  Their  dependence  on  the 
town  is  so  great  that  in  many  cases  they  construct  two  huts, 
one  at  the  home  oasis  in  a  ravine  miles  away;  another  in  the 
desert  on  the  border  of  the  gardens  that  surround  San  Pedro. 
They  pasture  their  flocks  on  grasses  and  shrubs  at  the  fringe  of 
settlement,  rest  a  few  days,  trade,  and  return.  A  few  have  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  construct  a  third  hut  on  some  neglected  patch 
of  soil  at  the  common  border  of  desert  and  irrigated  land  and 
there  plant  a  few  grains  and  seeds  to  help  out  their  slender 
resources. 

Among  the  oasis  products  are  a  few  of  which  they  have 
grown  very  fond — chanar  (Fig.  22),  for  example,  which  may  be 
ground  up  to  make  an  ingredient  for  soup  or  made  into  a  kind 
of  bread  or  biscuit  or  roasted  like  a  chestnut.  Above  all  it  is 
light  in  weight  and  may  be  carried  with  ease  during  mountain 
journeys.  In  very  dry  seasons  the  crop  may  be  small  and  the 
owners  unwilling  to  part  with  it.  Then  the  nomads  refuse  to 
sell  their  ropes  of  twisted  llama  wool.  Now  the  arrieros  of  the 
town  must  have  these  to  hobble  their  beasts  at  night  while 
on  a  journey  across  the  desert.  Leather  thongs  would  chafe  the 
legs  of  the  mules  and  start  troublesome  sores.  Moreover,  they 
cannot  be  so  securely  tied,  and  the  security  of  one's  beasts  is  a 
most  important  care  in  desert  travel.  If  the  shepherd  will  not 
sell  his  vauable  llama  wool  ropes  for  money,  the  arriero  must 
exchange  for  them  something  of  less  value  to  him.  Thus  he 
reluctantly  parts  with  his  crop  of  chafiar  nuts,  for  which  he 
may  substitute  wheat,  rather  than  do  without  the  wool  ropes 
for  which  he  has  no  substitute. 

Pastoral  Migrations 

Once  in  two  or  three  years  it  rains  in  the  San  Pedro  region ; 
at  longer  intervals  (up  to  ten  years)  it  rains  a  number  of  times 
a  year,  and  in  these  wetter  seasons  grass  springs  up  every- 
where; there  is  good  pasture  for  sheep  and  cattle  on  wide 
stretches  of  pampa;  and  if  flocks  and  herds  are  carefully  dis- 
tributed the  forage  may  last  a  year,  which  is  a  great  relief  to 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA 


245 


■.,^*si«;    •■—"-■ 


Fig.  So 


Fig.  81 


Fig.  82 

Fig.  80 — A  drove  of  llamas  on  the  border  of  the  settlement  of  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama;  in  the  background  is  the  Western  Cordillera  of  the  Andes. 

Fig.  81 — Looking  west  across  the  Salar  de  Atacama  toward  the  Cerros  de  la  Sal, 
from  a  point  near  Toconao.  An  entire  camp  of  mountain  shepherds  in  their  winter 
encampment.   The  stone  shelters  in  which  they  sleep  are  about  four  feet  high. 

Fig.  82 — Stone  hut  on  the  border  of  the  main  settlement  of  San  Pedro  de 
Atacama,  used  during  the  winter  season  by  mountain  shepherds. 


246  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  AT  AC  AM  A 

the  people  of  the  town.  In  the  drier  years  the  forage  is  re- 
stricted to  those  seepage  tracts  where  the  underground  waters 
appear  that  have  been  absorbed  higher  up  in  piedmont  depos- 
its. About  the  valley  tracts  at  such  times  are  dry  slopes  with 
only  tiny  patches  of  grass  or  scattered  clumps  of  shrubs.  We 
rode  down  through  the  pajonal,  as  it  is  called,  a  belt  of  yellow 
grass  and  scattered  shrub  that  clothes  the  upper  slopes  of  the 
mountains  well  above  the  settlements  of  Soncor,  Toconao,  and 
San  Pedro.  The  upper  pastures  extended  from  7300  to  1 1 ,000 
feet  along  our  route  (Fig.  i). 

In  a  valley  with  such  restricted  resources  the  people  natu- 
rally take  advantage  of  every  means  to  increase  the  pasture  of 
dry  years  and  the  size  of  the  flocks  they  maintain.  This  is 
illustrated  by  the  situation  at  Toconao.  Two  leagues  north 
of  the  settlement  there  is  a  ravine  called  Zapar,  which  the 
landholders  of  Toconao  visit  to  cultivate  such  crops  as  they 
can.  Near  and  far,  in  still  higher  situations,  many  other  spots, 
each  having  a  name  of  its  own,  are  visited  in  the  time  of 
planting  and  harvest.  Tributary  to  Toconao  are  three  other 
such  small  planted  areas — Jeri,  Atite,  Laccira. 

In  order  to  relieve  the  oases  pastures  and  the  irrigated 
alfalfa  fields,  sheep  are  driven  up  the  ravines  in  flocks  under 
the  care  of  men,  women,  and  even  children,  to  graze  for  two  or 
three  days  upon  any  scrap  of  green  that  can  be  found.  Some  of 
the  Indians  have  two  residences,  one  in  the  mountains  and  one 
on  the  plains  below.  They  come  down  to  the  rivers  and  water- 
ing places  of  lower  elevations  to  water  the  stock  and  then  re- 
turn again  for  four  or  five  days  to  the  higher  pastures.  Below 
their  watering  places  they  may  have  even  a  third  tract  which 
some  of  them  cultivate,  and  they  may  have  temporary  shelters 
at  any  one  of  these  places. 

When  the  shepherd  is  driven  from  the  upper  pajonales  by  the 
winter  cold  he  has  little  choice  whither  to  go.  The  desert  oases 
may  be  crowded,  but  thither  his  flock  must  ultimately  be 
driven.  The  sole  though  temporary  alternative  is  to  seek  out 
the  neglected  spots  where  tiny  springs  water  a  narrow  ribbon  of 
green.  There  hisflock  wanders  from  one  clump  of  shrubbery  to 
another  or  gathers  in  greedy ringsaboutrarehummocksof grass. 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA  247 

We  find  instead  of  rivalry  that  there  is  the  closest  and  friend- 
liest relation  between  the  mountain  shepherd  and  the  desert 
dweller.  The  causes  for  this  condition  lie  in  the  geographic 
distribution  of  the  principal  natural  resources  upon  which  each 
depends.  The  oases  on  the  western  border  of  the  cordillera  are 
for  the  most  part  mere  dots  in  a  vast  desert.  Miles  of  almost 
naked  lava  separate  them  from  the  belt  of  mountain  pastures. 
Miles  of  hot  sandy  piedmont  separate  them  from  one  another. 
In  the  sterile  desert  about  them  their  own  flocks,  had  they 
any,  would  find  subsistence  for  only  a  part  of  the  year.  Hence 
the  small  size  and  scattered  distribution  of  the  oases  make  them 
quite  as  dependent  on  the  flocks  of  the  shepherds  as  the  shep- 
herds are  dependent  upon  the  vegetable  food  of  the  oases. 
Indeed,  this  supplementary  relation  is  carried  so  far  in  the  case 
of  the  smaller  oases  that  they  are  merely  the  winter  camps  for 
the  mountain  shepherds,  w^ho  have  their  own  gardens  which 
they  leave  to  the  care  of  the  old  and  infirm  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  year.  At  Tilomonte  a  few  patches  of  land  are 
planted  and  then  left  to  the  care  of  wind  and  sun  until  the 
harvest  is  due.  Almost  the  whole  population  of  Soncor  and 
Socaire  are  in  the  mountains  in  summer,  only  a  remnant  of 
aged  and  feeble  persons  being  left  behind  to  care  for  the 
gardens. 

Old  Customs  and  Antiquities 

In  the  communal  vicufia  hunts,  which  are  of  great  antiquity, 
these  pastoral  nomads  on  the  western  flanks  of  the  iVndean 
Cordillera  show  most  clearly  their  isolated  condition.  Else- 
where the  ancient  customs  have  largely  disappeared.  The 
priest  has  substituted  the  ceremonies  of  the  Christian  church 
for  the  old  feasts  of  the  harvest  and  the  chase.  But  the  poor 
shepherds  of  the  desolate  country  on  the  mountain  border  of 
Atacama  still  retain  their  old  ways.  Some  of  them  are  in 
pure  form;  even  those  that  have  become  modified  still  have 
a  strong  flavor  of  the  original  paganism.  Among  them  the 
vicuna  hunt  is  by  far  the  most  interesting.  Late  in  February 
or  early  in  March,  the  men  of  Aguas  Blancas  and  Toconao 
go  into  the  mountain  country  in  search  of  vicuna.     On  the 


248 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


fifteenth  day  after  the  carnival  the  villages  are  almost  depopu- 
lated. The  women  string  threads  across  the  valleys  down 
which  the  animals  are  to  be  driven — for  the  vicuila  will  not 
pass  a  thread  or  rope  stretched  across  his  path.  The  men 
scatter  widely  in  order  to  keep  the  quarry  in  the  ravines.   The 


Fig.  83 — El  Pucara  (fortress)  near  San  Pedro  de  Atacama. 


hunters  are  mounted,  and  when  the  vicufia  become  confused 
and  huddled  they  are  easily  shot.  He  who  kills  a  vicufia 
gets  the  skin,  the  most  valuable  part.  Thus  there  is  a  strong 
incentive  to  compete  in  achieving  the  hardest  part  of  the 
hunt.  The  rest  of  the  animal  is  common  property;  since  the 
hunt  is  co-operative,  all  must  share  in  some  way  in  the  spoils. 
Near  the  town  of  San  Pedro,  at  a  height  of  250  feet  above  the 
valley  floor,  is  a  group  of  ruined  stone  houses  that  cover  the 
site  of  a  primitive  settlement.  Instead  of  spreading  out  upon 
the  valley  floor  as  do  the  peaceful  and  settled  communities  of 
today,  the  older  settlements  were  established  in  strategic 
places.  They  rise  tier  on  tier  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  and  are 
very  cleverly  situated  and  constructed  for  defense  and  for 


SAN  PEDRO  DK  ATACAMA 


^^' 


.jj^vssto^-  ^'"~^-^ '^«^-iWll. 


.s-\ 


Fig.  84 


^. 


Fig.  85 

Fig.  84 — Petroglyph  at  Peiia,  where  the  trail  to  Calama  crosses  a  ridge  formed 
on  a  belt  of  red  sandstone.  Figures  of  llamas  can  be  distinguished,  but  the  princi- 
pal feature  is  the  stretched  chinchilla  skin  in  the  middle  of  the  photograph. 

Fig.  85 — Petroglyphs  at  Peiia  between  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  and  Calama. 


250  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

lookout.  There  are  loopholes  from  six  to  eight  inches  square, 
so  that  one  can  see  the  slope  from  within,  and  they  would 
also  be  useful  for  a  defensive  fight.  On  the  inside  of  each  door 
is  a  "curtain"  of  stone,  a  spur  wall  built  out  to  make  the  en- 
trance more  tortuous,  so  that  anyone  who  assaulted  the  door 
and  broke  it  in  could  not  see  inside  and  would  be  subject  to 
attack  from  stones  thrown  over  the  curtain.  Inside  some  of  the 
ruins  are  round,  smooth,  river-rolled  stones  that  must  have 
been  brought  from  the  bed  of  the  river  or  from  adjacent  allu- 
vium and  carried  within  to  serve  the  purposes  of  defense. 
Upon  some  of  the  floors  are  a  number  of  round  holes  about 
four  feet  in  diameter  lined  with  stone,  possibly  for  storing  food 
and  concealing  or  protecting  water  jars.  They  are  covered 
with  flat  slabs  of  stone.  The  slope  of  the  hill  on  which  the  ruin 
stands  overlooks  the  valley,  and  the  whole  is  admirably 
situated  for  observing  the  cultivated  fields  from  a  distance  and 
for  mutual  protection.  The  place  is  called  Pucara;  but  the 
name  in  Quechua  means  a  fort  or  fortified  place,  so  that  it  is 
more  proper  to  speak  of  it  as  a  pucara  than  Pucara,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  confused  with  the  famous  pucaras  of  Rinconada  or 
Andalgala  described  in  Chapter  XVI. 

Other  interesting  relics  of  the  ancient  population  are  found 
in  the  petroglyphs  of  the  region.  Petroglyphs  which  exhibit  a 
certain  similarity  are  found  throughout  the  Central  Andes, 
all  the  way  from  central  Peru  to  the  southern  end  of  Atacama, 
but  there  are  local  variations. i"*  Beyond  these  limits  some 
of  those  from  the  north  of  Peru  are  like  those  from  north- 
western Argentina,  and  vice  versa.  The  llama  is  the  principal 
beast  represented.  From  the  proximity  of  some  petroglyphs 
and  frescoes  to  ruins,  as  at  the  Pucara  of  Rinconada  in  north- 
western Argentina,  it  is  supposed  that  they  pertain  to  the  same 
historical  period,  although  this  does  not  mean  absolute  con- 
temporaneity; only  that  the  same  race  and  the  same  culture 

101  A  systematic  account  of  the  localities  in  which  petroglyphs  and  pictographs  are 
found  throughout  northwestern  Argentina,  the  Desert  of  Atacama,  and  the  intervening 
Cordillera  is  given  by  Plagemann:  tjber  die  chilenischen  "Pintados,"  Internationaler 
Amerik.-Kongress  Vierzehnte  Tagung,  Stuttgart,  1904.  Petroglyphs  and  picto- 
graphs are  widely  distributed  in  South  America.  A  comparative  study  of  their  dis- 
tribution such  as  Erland  Nordenskiold  has  carried  out  for  several  cultural  features  of 
South  American  Indian  life  is  suggested  as  an  interesting  line  of  investigation. 


SAN  PEDRO  DE  ATACAMA  251 

produced  both  and  that  they  belong  to  pre-Hispanic  culture. 
I  find  no  reference  in  any  of  the  standard  works  to  a  chin- 
chilla skin  in  petroglyph  carvings  and  figures.  Special  inter- 
est attaches  therefore  to  Figure  84,  in  which  is  represented 
not  only  the  llama  but  a  chinchilla  skin  spread  out  as  if  to  dry. 

Changing  Orientation  of  a  Desert  Settlement 

San  Pedro  de  Atacama  is  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  in 
South  America,  and  at  first  it  was  altogether  under  control 
of  that  power  that  issued  first  from  the  Viceroyalty  of  Peru 
and,  later  (after  1776),  that  of  Buenos  Aires.  It  formed  a  part 
of  the  intendencia,  or  district,  of  Potosi.  The  governor  of 
Potosi  in  1787  described  the  partido  of  Atacama  as  including 
in  its  political  or  ecclesiastical  orbit  widely  scattered  com- 
munities, even  so  distant  a  place  as  Susques,  near  the  eastern 
border  of  the  high  basin  country,  having  been  annexed  to  the 
parish  of  San  Pedro  in  that  year.^"^  After  the  wars  of  independ- 
ence it  was  created  a  part  of  the  Bolivian  departamento 
of  Atacama  and  the  town  became  the  capital.  Trade  routes 
between  the  coast  and  many  interior  points  converged  at 
San  Pedro  and  thence  mule  tracks  led,  one  to  Calama  and 
another  more  directly  to  Ascotan,  along  the  mountain  border. 
When  Atacama  was  lost  to  Bolivia  as  a  result  of  the  War  of 
the  Pacific  (i 879-1 883)  the  province  was  renamed  Anto- 
fagasta,  and  the  city  of  that  name  became  the  capital,  leaving 
San  Pedro  as  an  isolated  tributary  town.  The  railway,  the 
nitrate  business,  and  the  control  by  sea  conspired  to  move  the 
seat  of  authority  and  commercial  power  from  its  place  at  the 
meeting  point  of  inland  trails  westward  to  the  coast  where  it  is 
today.  The  changing  orientation  of  the  life  of  a  desert  com- 
munity is  a  characteristic  feature  as  one  dominating  control 
gives  way  to  another  in  that  outside  world  whence  spring  the 
main  impulses  of  trade  and  political  control. 

lo^Juan  del  Pino  Manrique:  Descripcion  de  la  Villa  de  Potosi  y  de  los  partidos 
sugestos  a  su  Intendencia,  in  Pedro  de  Angelis:  Coleccion  de  obras  y  documentos  rela- 
tivos  a  la  historia  antigua  y  moderna  de  las  provincias  del  Rio  de  la  Plata  (3  vols., 
Buenos  Aires,  1900-01),  Vol.  2,  pp.  13-27. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA:  LAND  FORMS, 
PASTURE,  AND  WOODLAND 

From  the  earliest  descriptions  of  the  mountain  chains  of  the 
Andes  one  might  suppose  that  they  were  as  rugged  as  they  are 
lofty  and  that  great  peaks  and  canyons  are  the  rule.  The 
frontispiece  of  von  Tschudi's  travels  in  South  America  is  an 
almost  glorious  piece  of  misrepresentation  in  its  attempt  to 
show  everything  connected  with  the  Andes  or  its  borders  in 
one  composite  view.^***^  This  is  not  to  say  that  canyons  and 
peaks  are  lacking.  Some  of  them  are  larger  than  any  we  have 
in  North  America,  that  of  the  Apurimac  in  Peru  being  in 
places  10,000  feet  deep.  The  Huatacondo  in  Chile,  on  the  east- 
ern border  of  the  Desert  of  Atacama,  is  3000  feet  deep ;  and  the 
Calchaqui  valley  at  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama 
has  almost  the  proportions  of  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colo- 
rado but  without  its  amazing  architecture.  The  Andes  contain 
also  the  highest  peaks  of  the  western  hemisphere :  Aconcagua, 
22,868  feet;  Sajama,  21,385;  and  Mercedario,  21,877.  Such 
figures  of  peak  heights  are  of  no  value  whatever  unless  we 
know  how  frequently  we  encounter  them  and  at  what  eleva- 
tion stands  the  platform  from  which  they  rise. 

In  view  of  this  special  character  of  the  Andes  a  brief  ex- 
planation of  their  land  forms  is  given  at  this  point  that  the 
subsequent  narrative  and  description  of  the  Puna  and  its 
settlements  may  be  better  understood.  The  coastal  belt  has 
already  been  described  (pp.  149-155),  the  present  concern  is 
with  the  interior  chains  and  plateaus  that  form  the  Puna  de 
Atacama,  the  southernmost  unit  of  the  Central  Andes. 

After  repeated  crossings  of  the  Andes  in  widely  different 
latitudes  I  should  say  that  it  is  not  their  height  and  ruggedness 
that  is  their  most  surprising  feature  but  rather  the  wide  extent 

""  J-  J-  von  Tschudi:  Reise  durch  die  Andes  von  Siid-Amerika,  Leipzig,  1866-1869. 

252 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


253 


llitil  Woodland 'Belt        |:::::;:;|:j  Salars       '""..n."""  Eastern  base  of  mountains 
Railways  international  boundaries 

20       0  40  80  120  160      ,      290  MILES 

20    0        40       80       120       160     200     240    280      320   KILOMETERS 


Fig.  86 — Wherever  such  unlike  regions  as  a  dry  interior-basin  belt  and  a  belt  of  woodland 
are  closely  associated  there  we  are  sure  to  find  a  key  situation  of  exceptional  human  in- 
terest. The  woodland  means  a  steadier  stream  flow,  irrigation,  towns  on  the  plains  below, 
a  complex  life.  East  of  the  woodland  belt,  particularly  in  the  Chaco,  are  patches  and 
bands  of  tree  growth,  but  their  distribution  is  uncertain;  and  on  the  map  above  only  the 
denser  and  better  known  belts  are  shown.  Area  of  interior  basin  drainage  is  unshaded. 
Map  reduced  from  the  American  Geographical  Society's  1:6,000,000  map  of  Hispanic 
America. 


254  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  high-level  plateau  fragments  and  lava  fields  which  form  the 
platform  upon  which  the  highest  peaks  stand.  East  of  Iquique 
the  sky  line  of  the  western  summit  of  the  Andes  for  at  least 
forty  miles  is  almost  unbroken.  The  top,  seen  from  the  west, 
is  as  even  as  if  cut  by  a  knife  drawn  along  the  edge  of  a  ruler. 
The  elevation  of  the  top  averages  about  12,000  to  14,000  feet. 
From  this  lofty  platform  the  snow-capped  Cordillera  Sillilica 
rises  several  thousand  feet,  but  it  is  only  in  this  small  elevation 
that  the  Andes  are  able  to  show  a  mountainous  appearance. 
Their  whole  elevation  above  the  sea  has  no  expression  in  the 
relief  of  today.  In  the  Puna  de  Atacama  the  average  height 
of  the  basin  floors  is  over  12,000  feet,  and  peaks  and  ridges  rise 
to  heights  of  only  1000  to  5000  feet  about  them.  The  Salar  de 
Uyuni,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  great  basin  of  western 
Bolivia,  is  12,000  feet  above  sea  level,  and  there  is  little  scope 
for  the  volcanoes  on  its  border  to  make  their  distance  above 
sea  count  in  the  relief. 

The  volcanic  features  of  the  Central  Andes  were  preceded 
in  their  development  by  a  land  surface  modeled  to  mature  and 
even  old  forms  over  a  vast  extent  of  mountain  country.  There 
ensued  wide  and  great  uplift  in  the  late  Tertiary  and  Pleisto- 
cene periods.  The  elevation  of  the  whole  surface  to  higher 
levels  was  accompanied  by  the  dissection  of  the  mountain 
border  as  the  draining  streams  had  their  gradients  increased ; 
and  on  the  floors  of  the  valleys  the  most  striking  features  are 
the  marks  of  recent  and  continuing  dissection.  Turbulent 
streams  flowing  over  steep  gradients  dislodge  and  transport 
great  quantities  of  waste,  which  is  strewn  over  all  the  basin 
and  valley  floors.  These  marks  of  erosion  at  lower  levels  make 
more  impressive  the  even  crest  lines  of  many  plateau  masses 
and  the  open  and  parklike  character  of  the  landscape.  Grassy 
swards  abound,  and  gentle,  beautifully  graded  slopes.  One's 
imagination  rather  pictures  the  wilder  mountain  scenery  of  the 
lower  level  culminating  in  bold  peaks,  whereas  quite  the 
contrary  is  the  case.  The  top  of  the  country  has  in  many  cases 
the  gentlest  relief.  Where  even  crest  lines  are  lacking  there  is 
at  least  a  succession  of  graded  mountain  slopes  showing  late 
maturity  of  form.    In  other  places  all  but  fragments  of  older 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  255 

surfaces  may  be  buried  under  lava  flows.  Neither  the  Coast 
Range  of  Chile  nor  the  so-called  Pre-Cordillera  along  the 
eastern  front  of  the  Andes  of  northwestern  Argentina  is  noted 
for  its  volcanic  material  but  rather  for  its  sedimentary  and 
intrusive  material  modeled  on  smooth  lines. 

Were  these  generalizations  limited  to  a  small  area  they 
might  have  correspondingly  small  significance.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  are  characteristic  of  the  whole  Central  Andes. 
More  than  that,  the  studies  that  Willis  has  made  in  northern 
Patagonia  and  others  have  made  in  Peru,  Ecuador,  and  Co- 
lombia reveal  in  effect  a  similarity  of  topographic  features 
throughout  the  whole  Andean  realm. 

Central  and  Southern  Andes  Compared 

Northward  from  the  southern  tip  of  South  America  the 
Andes  Mountains  are  composed  within  a  rather  narrow  zone, 
and  in  a  single  airplane  view  their  entire  extent  from  Chile  to 
Argentina  could  be  seen  on  a  clear  day.  The  several  chains 
would  be  seen  to  lie  so  closely  parallel  and  with  such  narrow 
longitudinal  valleys  between  them  as  to  have  in  general  a 
rather  simple  appearance.  One  would  also  see  the  streams  that 
drain  the  Argentine  plain  north  of  Patagonia  extending  their 
headwaters  effectively  throughout  the  mountain  country,  for 
the  most  part  to  the  very  summits  and  crests  of  the  main 
divide.  In  the  same  way  the  streams  running  westward  to  the 
Pacific  interfinger  with  companion  streams  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Cordillera.  Every  mountain  hollow  is  reached  by  tiny 
headwater  tributaries.  It  is  effective  through-flowing  drainage 
of  the  normal  type.  The  desertic  mountain-and-plateau 
country  of  western  Bolivia  and  northwestern  Argentina  would 
lie  out  of  the  picture. 

The  relation  of  man  to  the  mountains  in  the  Andes  south  of 
the  Puna  is  as  simple  as  the  general  physiography.  The  valleys 
among  the  mountains  are  desirable  for  the  pasture  they  afford 
in  the  summer  season.  The  rivers  and  lakes  of  the  mountains 
or  along  the  mountain  border,  as  in  Patagonia,  are  sources  of 
water  for  irrigation  and  in  part  even  for  navigation.     Towns 


256  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

are  built  not  In  the  mountains  but  along  their  border.  While 
the  mountains  offer  serious  transit  difficulties  they  are  diffi- 
culties not  so  much  of  distance  as  of  elevation  and  snowfall, 
and  in  any  case  they  are  difficulties  that  are  rather  quickly 
passed.  In  the  absence  of  mineral  wealth,  railways  are  built 
toward  the  mountains  with  the  intention  of  crossing  them, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  exploiting  the  subsoil.  They  follow  the 
shortest  and  the  most  practicable  routes.  Each  one  of  the 
transitable  passes  is  known  for  the  relative  difficulty  of  the 
road,  the  probability  of  snowfall,  and  the  access  to  markets 
on  either  side.  They  were  among  the  first  topographic  features 
to  have  a  determining  influence  upon  cities  and  even  upon  the 
course  of  history,  as  in  the  founding  of  Mendoza  and  in  the 
development  of  the  cattle  trade  and  the  goods  trade  from  the 
older  Spanish  colony  in  Chile  to  the  colonists  who  went  out 
from  there  to  settle  along  the  eastern  border  of  the  Andes. 

As  we  go  northward  the  simple  character  of  the  mountains 
is  lost.  Beginning  in  latitude  30°  the  mountains  have  long 
extensions  southeastward  toward  the  plains  of  central  Argen- 
tina. These  offshoots  enclose  or  nearly  enclose  embayments  of 
the  plain  that  extend  like  arms  of  the  sea  up  the  intervening 
valleys.  The  characteristic  relation  of  basin  and  plain  con- 
tinues along  the  entire  eastern  border  past  the  northern 
boundary  of  Argentina  and  through  Bolivia  into  southeastern 
and  eastern  Peru.  It  is  a  Central-Andean  type  of  mountain 
border — as  characteristic  and  persistent  a  feature  as  the  drain- 
age of  the  nitrate  desert  or  the  longitudinal  valley  of  Chile. 

The  general  trend  of  the  eastern  wall  of  the  Andes  in  its 
course  across  northwestern  Argentina  is  not  from  south  to 
north  as  in  Patagonia  but  from  southwest  to  northeast.  As 
the  mountain  zone  broadens,  so  does  the  mountain  border 
become  more  complex.  Every  physiographic  complexity  is 
reflected  in  altered  human  relationships:  the  location  of  the 
trails,  the  size  and  situation  of  the  cities,  the  whole  scheme  and 
structure  of  the  economic  life.  Within  the  mountain  belt  of 
the  Puna  region  in  the  broader  Andean  zone  we  have  one  of 
the  most  desolate  regions  in  the  world.  Population  is  all  but 
absent  except  in  a  few  miserable  villages  crouching  on  the 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  257 

floors  of  the  deepest  valleys,  villages  inhabited  by  primitive 
Indian  groups  who  still  follow  the  ways  of  their  fathers  and 
who  themselves  find  the  higher  and  colder  parts  of  the  Cordil- 
lera so  inhospitable  that  they  go  up  into  the  altitudes  only 
in  summer  to  graze  their  flocks  of  sheep  and  llamas  and  thus 
relieve  the  valley  floors  of  the  pressure  for  forage  that  would 
necessarily  follow  if  they  all  remained  huddled  in  the  narrow 
strips  of  pasture  land  that  the  uncertain  streams  support. 

The  long  secondary  ranges  that  extend  forward  from  the 
main  southeastern  front  of  the  Andes  have  diminishing  eleva- 
tion as  they  penetrate  the  Argentine  plains.  In  almost  all  cases 
the  summits  of  the  outlying  or  detached  topographic  units, 
as  well  as  the  secondary  ranges  along  the  main  mountain 
front,  have  an  older  aspect  than  the  ravined  border  of  the 
ranges.  The  topography  is  in  a  far  more  advanced  stage  of 
development;  the  mountain  crests  or  high  upper  slopes,  as 
well  as  the  spur  tops,  are  covered  with  grass,  and  their  ravined 
borders  are  sprinkled  with  thin  woodland.  The  ravines  have 
been  cut  recently  as  a  result  of  late  uplift.  Their  steep  head- 
water slopes  and  narrow  bordering  declivities  are  youthful 
features  in  marked  contrast  to  the  lawnlike  high-level  slopes 
which  they  are  gradually  invading. 

These  features  are  well  developed  southeast  of  Salta  in  the 
Cordillera  Lambrama  and  again  on  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo  and 
Cerro  Bayo  west  of  Rosario  de  Lerma.  In  fact,  the  entire 
mountain  mass  between  Rosario  de  Lerma  and  Poma  is  of  this 
general  type,  and  the  contrast  between  it  and  the  main  wall 
of  the  Andes  west  of  Poma  and  extending  along  the  western 
border  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  is  most  striking. 

The  Puna  de  Atacama 

The  Puna  de  Atacama  is  the  collective  name  given  to  the 
basins,  valleys,  salt-covered  basin  floors,  mountain  knots, 
chains,  and  alluvial  piedmont  deposits  that  are  the  chief 
topographic  and  drainage  features  of  a  belt  of  exceedingly 
high  and  cold  country  that  lies  between  the  main  chain  of  the 
Andes  as  shown  in  Figure  87  and  the  eastern  mountain  wall 


258  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

that  overlooks  the  Calchaqui  valley  and  the  basins  of  Cata- 
marca  and  Fiambala. 

The  eastern  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  is  rugged  in 
contrast  to  the  rounded  ranges  that  stand  east  of  that  border. 
The  contrast  between  the  two  groups  of  forms  is  further 
heightened  by  the  fact  that  they  face  each  other  across  the 
deep  Calchaqui  valley,  a  depression  only  five  miles  wide  and 
extending  north  and  south  for  twenty-five  miles.  In  this 
narrow  zone  a  block  of  red  sandstone  has  been  dropped  down 
between  closely  parallel  faults  that  bound  older  rocks  such  as 
slates,  quartzites,  and  schists  on  the  east  and  similar  rocks  with 
a  cover  of  volcanic  material  on  the  west.  The  red  sandstones 
were  probably  faulted  and  folded  at  the  same  time.  Then  came 
a  period  of  great  volcanic  activity,  probably  beginning  in  the 
Tertiary  and  running  into  the  Pleistocene  and  Recent  with 
some  glaciation  in  the  Pleistocene,  heavier  on  the  eastern 
border  of  the  mountains  because  of  the  greater  precipitation 
there.  The  first  terminal  moraine  which  we  saw  in  the  ravine 
of  Peiias  Blancas  above  Poma  was  at  ii,ooo  feet,  and  the 
best  developed  terminal  moraine  at  11,650  feet.  Glaciation 
has  flattened  the  valley  floor  so  that  there  is  an  extensive  pas- 
ture at  11,800  feet. 

West  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  are  immense  tracts  of  volcanic 
rock  in  all  stages  of  erosion  and  great  differences  of  age.  Some 
of  the  youngest  lava  flows  are  on  the  floors  of  the  present  val- 
leys or  along  the  lower  slopes  where  the  valley  floor  once 
stood,  the  river  having  since  cut  a  new  narrow  valley  to  one 
side  of  the  obstructing  flow  (Fig.  66).  Here  and  there,  as  in  the 
valley  of  Peiias  Blancas,  are  small  lava-dammed  lakes  or  their 
exposed  floors  where  the  lakes  have  since  been  drained. 

The  contrast  between  the  younger  and  higher  mountains  on 
the  west  of  the  Calchaqui  valley  and  the  lower  but  older  moun- 
tains to  the  east  of  it  is  heightened  by  the  character  of  the 


Fig.  87  (opposite) — Reduced  from  the  American  Geographical  Society's 
MilHonth  Map  of  Hispanic  America.  Scale  1:4,500,000.  Only  the  main  divides 
are  indicated,  and  the  main  peaks  and  passes.  The  term  Puna  de  Atacama  is 
applied  to  the  tract  east  of  the  Cordillera  de  los  Andes  to  the  main  eastern  divide 
and  northward  approximately  to  the  23rd  parallel.  Ab.  =abra,  or  pass;  Port.  = 
portezuela,  or  pass;  Ap.  =apacheta,  or  trail  marker;  S.  =  salaror  salina;  C.  =  cerro, 
hill  or  peak;  V.  and  Vn.  =volcano;  Sa.  =sierra,  or  chain;  Ns.  =  Nevados,  or  snowy 
peaks;  Ms.  =  Morros,  or  hills. 


7F 

jlqmque 


\N 


Ms.. 

A 


Ap.deSilliMica^46ii^ 
S.de/IuiLs/h^   '^/^■'i 
CGuaiilafA^ 

S.de     CM-"-"" 
'ifiUidos 


f 

C.lrruputuncu  A    Emp^exa 

^  15165/^         \     . 


S  CbX  CLT 

de 


\5200 
oU>ruTii   AC.Ubina 


C.Auncanquilcha  A 


X  OIOU 

"7^    S.  deAsco/Ld. 


A 


4800~"AC.Tasna 

A 

C.Co^h^ 

J 

Clucjiuma^^  C.Ca'iuincha    4«00'^  , 


c  rs^      4400,--'  .,      , 
L.ChocajaA  oAtocha 


C. Escape 


C.Palpana  A 

^       604(> 


3730A 
Ascotan^q       /    ^, 


Calientes  ^^ 


4400' 


/    ---PUar-a 

iSanVicente 


5169, 


C.Staizabel 

^n  Pablo 
C.Bonete 


oTupiza 


jTocopilla 


.N^.        ,96C^:9-P«tafiC.Morocor- 
CdeJorcadaAfSonequer^   X  I'TLipez        ' 

"'    -  'Ab.M 


\!i 


^  vn  1  •         ^"'^^ 

V"  LinzorA 

5560  1 
MSdeCablor         ^p^rtj^gf^Pg^i^^V 
S.de   ^  oCalama  '^^^y'  -^     \5100  ^  1    c'sssoA^LorerM^yo 
'irc^e       C.Chuschul  A4040^^^^^37V        ^  ^ 


SSnta  Catalina  £2° 

«C.l/turu^r?c'5rC;.'.     rl      9  l'^*"    \c.Escaj.a 
^      '  \^-^.^-AC.Limilad6,  ,-'4^9 


C.ChuSchul  A4040 

^     / 


SanPedro  de  Ata/cama  o 


^MejQlone/ 


ilAntofa^asta 

X, ..  _  ^ 


J  ^ , 

CCnajtigtoj:A-V         v'-Tc 

SSSOA-^-   C.SapaleriA      >^^ 
C.Liri^abur 


/ 


/  VRinco^ada 


530ff 


(  /'^(c.Totay    / 

\ ^4365        ^    / 

x^C.Rt5sa^io 


C.GuanacaA 

1^ 


CPunta  del  Vienlo  a^4600 


>Taltal 


S.  dePedemalBS  /, 


)  Chctnaral 


Tr^s  Cruces- 


^  y4W0oSusques 
$  yC?*deTurutari^ 

If    ('  P^^'^ 


Solar  de    .j  ^  y^^ 

PardxiNedraM  '  o 

l'^V"'-lulMlac( 


^AtJ  C.delRincon 

^^f^^  m         i_^*ffihra^:^;b'.' Antonio \de 
(vC        %     5290-:^Crultul  1^050?  losC9bres 
.>^^  ^        .    ^^W^v    ^ry    i-CChonWDs 

'■\        ^Rosa    v/'l. 
^tf     -f  5200A'C.Pircas 
iwM  '      oPoma 

i  ^       ^6500 

CMojon  BIaZ  f   ^^50^^'^'  Rosario^de  Lerma_ 
<        / 


ffihraA^  39 Antonio  ide    ^ 


oCachi 


Jujuy 


Salta 

o 


\ 

/5250 

i^C.Tagarume 
llfofribre 
'Muerto         oMolinos 


C.del  Bolson  A   t 

4900  I     * 


\ 

\ 

aV  r-  .    1.  5500.C.G'alan 
Arvtofagasta  '    K^ 

VerrI    /  C.Leon  Muerfco 


o San  Carlos 
o  Cafaj/ate 


4960  ;• 
■      ,  C.OiodeMaricun^a  a'' 

)Caldera     "^  ^   (^ 


^  (  •64oS(S3Nevada^O         ^ 

C.BravosA-'„„n     )         63bo^^-^„^,':")i\"^°       4200  ^^f'      (" 

\  5280     I        c  -"^  1'    5850^.^gro       ,  T^Ab.deVentur 


/ 


/  '^    -^60201       506O-A!cf^Z"l 

^     „c/795-^.S?  Francisco       r 
■^A:^356,- _  y 

/N?deTres  Cruces' 


o Santa  Mana 
TucmnarL  o 


Copiapdo 


C.Copiapcr_>A6080j  6493AC.del  Nacimiento 
<  ^     i     (  ^ 

C.Paredones /i-?"     J  Vsooj^Port.de  u. 

Port,  de  Arr.  Pan^pa'^i^^O    \7^;ios  Aparejos 

C.Vidal  Gormaz  ^gooV^'"  '  Fiambala  o 

J         5800C.Punilla  or 
>5060  ^  28 

Tino^asta  o 


C.^uli'do 

A5I60 


617- 


Desert  and    Puna   of 
ATA  CA  M  A 

Salars *  Passes x 

Divides Peaks A 

(Heights  in  meters) 

<- _  .  ,  ^r.  0  20  4,0  6,0  80  MILES 

dC/fZ-t:)-  i       20      40      60  '  80  '   160      \io  KILOMETERS 


Fig.  87 — Desert  and  Puna  of  Atacama  (for  description  see  opposite  page) 

259 


26o  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

peaks  on  the  west.  They  are  real  volcanic  cones,  many  of 
them  so  recent  as  to  be  little  dissected  and  so  high  as  to  be 
covered  with  snow  most  of  the  year.  It  is  a  great  lava-covered 
volcano-studded  wall. 

Upon  the  eastern  mountain  wall  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama 
and  upon  the  peaks  that  crown  it  there  is  wrung  out  of  the  air 
almost  the  last  vestige  of  its  moisture.  It  results  that  the 
country  to  the  west  of  that  wall  is  exceedingly  dry.  The 
precipitation  is  so  light  that  through-flowing  drainage  is  absent 
over  a  wide  area.  It  is  a  dryness  that  is  broken  in  a  significant 
way  but  once  in  a  period  of  years,  and  precipitation  then 
usually  takes  the  form  of  a  blanket  of  snow  which  may 
accumulate  to  a  depth  of  several  feet  and  remain  for  two  weeks 
or  so.  The  pass  at  the  head  of  the  ravine  of  Pefias  Blancas  is  at 
an  elevation  of  4950  meters  (16,236  feet).  When  we  crossed  it 
in  July,  1913,  there  were  snowbanks  under  the  steeper  lava 
cornices  near  the  pass,  and  some  snow  lay  in  small  patches  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  pass.  The  early  morning  temperature 
at  our  last  camp  just  east  of  the  Western  Cordillera  on  the 
San  Pedro  trail  was  below  zero  Fahrenheit.  The  stream  and 
the  pool  near  camp  were  frozen  solid  so  that  we  led  our  pack 
train  across  it  as  across  a  floor  of  rock.  Yet  there  was  no  snow 
on  any  of  the  slopes  round  about  or  on  the  cones  in  the  distant 
view.  It  was  only  when  we  reached  the  pass  in  the  main  chain 
that  a  few  tiny  patches  and  strips  of  snow  appeared  high  up  in 
the  sharp  but  small  ravines  cut  in  the  volcanic  cones  that 
stand  on  either  side  of  the  gateway.  The  stream  water  derived 
from  rains  and  melting  snows  is  gathered  in  local  basins 
whose  margins  are  rimmed  by  belts  of  relatively  steep  alluvium 
and  whose  floors  contain  either  lakes  or  marshes  or  salt  deposits 
or  all  three  in  varying  sizes  and  combinations.  In  one  basin 
salt  may  prevail  as  a  floor  deposit;  in  another  it  may  be  borax. 
The  salty  deposits  at  the  bottoms  of  the  basins  are  residues 
from  evaporation  and  include  chlorides  of  sodium,  potassium, 
and  magnesium,  some  sulphates  and  carbonates,  and  borax. 
The  composition  varies  from  place  to  place  according  to  the 
sources  of  the  material  from  hot  springs  which  occur  rather 
frequently  throughout  the  Puna  and  from  rain  water  that 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  261 

has  gathered  chemical  elements  from  the  adjacent  lava  slopes 
which  they  drain. 

In  consequence  of  the  greater  precipitation  and  larger 
streams  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Puna  a  vastly  greater 
amount  of  erosion  has  taken  place  there  than  on  the  western 
border  of  the  Puna.  In  contrast  to  the  feeble  Copiapo  River, 
which  reaches  the  sea  only  at  long  intervals  in  latitude  27°  20', 


COMPOSITION      OF    VALLEYS.    BASINS,  AND     MOUNTAINS 
IN    THE     PUNA     REGION 


PUNA      BORDER 

3000-  5000  m. 


000-  iOOOm. 


Fig.  88 — Schematic  diagram  of  the  Puna  and  its  eastern  border  to  represent 
enclosed  basins  on  the  western  side  of  and  among  volcanic  ranges  and  through- 
flowing  drainage  east  of  them. 

are  the  headwaters  of  the  Colorado  (or  Bermejo)  River  in  the 
Fiambala  district  and  in  the  Chaschuil  district,  where  inter- 
mittent streams  from  at  least  three  principal  mountain  masses 
furnish  water  for  a  widely  ramifying  system  of  tributaries.^*'^ 
Viewed  from  the  trail  on  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo  (Fig.  63, 
p.  203)  the  eastern  rampart  of  the  Puna  has  a  distinctly 
mountainous  appearance ;  seen  from  the  west  it  forms  a  some- 
what tame  landscape.  The  border  chain  has  high  passes  and 
relatively  low  peaks.  The  passes  run  from  5000  meters  to 
5400  meters  (16,500  to  17,500  feet),  but  the  peaks  are  only  a 
little  higher;  that  is  to  say,  they  range  in  elevation  from  5500 
to  6000  meters  (18,000  to  20,000  feet).  The  passes  have  been 
but  little  eroded,  for  the  mountain  border  is  in  a  state  of 
extreme  youth.  By  contrast  the  Cordillera  de  los  Andes,  or 
Maritime  Cordillera,  which  borders  the  Puna  de  xAtacama  on 
the  west,  averages  about  4600  meters  (15,000  feet),  but  the 
peaks  run  up  to  6000  meters  (20,000  feet)  or  7000  meters 
(23,000  feet).     The  cones  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Puna  are 

107  Walther  Penck:  Der  Siidrand  der  Puna  de  Atacama,  Leipzig,  1920,  pp.  38-39 
and  52-53. 


262 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


Fig. 


Fig.  90 

Fig.  89 — ^View  from  Nevado  Ojo  de  las  Losas  (6620  m.)  northward  to  the 
volcanoes  of  San  Francisco  and  Antofalla.  Shows  character  and  composition  of 
southwestern  Puna  de  Atacama. 

Fig.  90 — View  from  the  western  slopes  of  Cerro  Palca  westward  over  waste- 
cloaked  slopes  of  the  Chaschuil  depression  to  the  snow-covered  mountains  of 
the  Western  Cordillera.     Camera  at  about  5000  m.  (16,400  feet). 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


263 


Fig.  91 


Fig.  92 


View  from  east  over  Casadero 
Old  erosion  surface  on  heights. 


Fig.  91 — Chaschuil  depression  from  3800  m. 
toward  southwest.  Salt  fields  of  Chaschuil  floor 
Second  erosion  surface  on  intermediate  slopes. 

Fig.  92 — View  over  the  salina  of  Laguna  Helada  toward  south.  On  the  right 
is  the  culmination  of  Sierra  de  Fiambala.  Camera  at  3800  m.  (12,500  feet).  Fig- 
ures 89-92  are  from  photographs  by  Walther  Penck. 


264 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


-b  °  -2 


>.  -a 

bf  c    c 


S   l-s   § 


o 


£     rt 


o 

-a 

c    O     OJ 
rt     O     Ok 


S   ►-<    o 

«)  fe  ^ 


H   B 


o 

>. 
10  a; 

On    G 

CO     ^ 

j5  S 


03       - 
O     h 

S  "^ 


OJ 


3  g  ^ 
S   §   ^ 

C    tn    nJ 


3   ^  ^ 


U    o 

XI 

c    <JJ 


0)      Co 
J3   4= 


42   ■ 


1^  C  <" 

«i  C  -C 

5  o  .^ 

-a  jz 

o  •  <u 


+j     ?     to 
i«     tao   O) 

u,     cti     <U 


8i 


(U 


D 


bo 


nj 


,,    03  en 

y   a,  J' 

rt   s 

u   o  o 

o  U  *=" 

>  0) 


O     C     C     n3 
~     r,     ^     O.     >^ 


0 
> 

u 
0 

ji; 

0 

0) 

CJ 

u 

•n 

J3 

n 

rt 

4= 

c 

03 

"o 

0 

0 

0 

be 

0) 

n, 

u 

<U 

^ 
u 

u 

_c 

^ 

<-t-, 

a 

3 

0 

1-. 

j= 

3 

Q 

0; 

C/J 

4:; 

Jii 

c 

n 

n 

H 

C 
03 

n 

_c 

ON 

-0 

<1> 

^ 

0) 

OJ 

4= 

0 

iZ 

0 

0 

03 

a 
S 

a) 

(Tl 

0 

JS 

tfi 

'U 

(/I 

u 

+J 

.^ 

THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  265 

low  and  have  been  built  up  on  broad  and  thick  sheets  of  lava. 
Those  on  the  west  are  high  and  have  been  built  up  on  a  lower 
basement  of  lava. 

On  the  earlier  maps  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  the  mountains 
were  represented  as  scattered  peaks,  and  the  intervening 
spaces  appeared  as  broad  plateaus.  The  true  character  of  the 
Puna  is  quite  different.  It  consists  of  mountain  chains,  knots, 
and  isolated  peaks  arranged  along  dominating  north-south 
lines  as  in  the  sketch.  Figure  87.  West  of  the  Nevado  de  Cachi 
which  forms  the  eastern  wall  is  a  line  of  salinas  or  salars.'^o^ 
These  become  larger  toward  the  west.  The  Salina  de  Anto- 
falla  is  90  miles  long,  though  but  2  to  6  miles  wide.  North  of 
it  is  the  Salina  de  Arizaro,  the  largest  salar  of  the  Puna  de 
Atacama,  25  by  55  miles  in  extent;  and  others  continue  the 
line  still  farther  north. 

Westward  of  the  first  line  of  salars,  which  includes  the  Salina 
de  Pastos  Grandes,  is  a  north-south  line  of  peaks  of  lesser 
height  and  much  less  definition  than  is  shown  by  the  Nevado 
de  Cachi.  There  follows  a  second  line  of  salars  represented 
by  Quiron  and  Rincon.  West  of  this  line  we  come  to  a  very 
important  topographic  feature,  the  Cordillera  de  Callalaste. 
Though  the  height  of  this  cordillera  is  not  great — its  peaks 
range  from  5000  to  5600  meters — yet  to  the  west  of  it  we  have 
the  largest  salars,  the  most  desolate  country,  the  most  inac- 
cessible portion  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  a  region  practically 
uninhabited.  East  of  the  Cordillera  Callalaste  and  its  continua- 
tion to  the  south,  the  Sierra  Famatina,  are  better  conditions 
with  more  fresh  water,  a  larger  number  of  aguadas  and  vegas, 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  settlements,  and  a  moderation  of 
the  hard  conditions  that  prevail  in  the  upper  Puna.  The 
basins  are  more  extensive,  and  the  drainage  features  better 
developed,  with  a  number  of  principal  streams  that  break 
through  narrow  gorges  and  give  outlet  to  the  Argentine  plain. 
The  group  of  settlements  in  the  basin  of  Fiambala,  the  gather- 
ing of  waters  at  Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra,  and  the  settlements 

10s  The  terms  salina  and  salar  are  used  interchangeably  in  many  places;  in  others  a 
distinction  is  made  between  a  basin  floor  with  a  moderate  deposit  of  salt,  a  salina,  and 
one  with  heavy  deposits,  a  salar.  In  general  the  term  salar  is  used  in  Chile,  salina  in 
Argentina. 


266  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

in  the  widely  extended  valleys  that  unite  to  form  the  head- 
waters of  the  Rio  Salado  between  Tucuman  and  Salta  reflect 
the  slightly  moister  climate  and  more  nearly  normal  drainage 
that  characterize  the  eastern  border  of  the  Puna. 

The  western  mountain  divide  of  the  Puna  is  formed  by  the 
Cordillera  de  los  Andes,  which  consists  chiefly  of  a  line  of  high 
volcanoes  with  lava  flows  about  them.  The  highest  elevations 
run  between  18,000  and  20,000  feet.  Upon  the  mountains  the 
summer  winds  are  from  the  east,  the  winter  winds  from  the 
west,  so  that  from  December  to  March,  as  in  the  Copiapo 
region,  there  is  a  period  of  melting  snows,  and  from  June  to 
August  there  is  a  period  when  the  moist  winds  from  the  Pacific 
increase  the  snow  fields  and  sometimes  lay  an  extensive  cover 
of  snow  over  the  whole  of  the  mountain  belt.  The  Copiapo 
valley  receives  part  of  the  run-ofl^  from  melting  snow  in  the 
high  volcanoes,  and  its  flow  is  thereby  made  regular  enough  to 
support  farming  in  the  Copiapo  valley — which  gives  a  critical 
geographical  value  to  this  part  of  the  Andean  Cordillera  of 
South  America,  in  the  study  of  human  distributions. 

West  of  the  Cordillera  de  los  Andes  and  for  3000  to  4000 
feet  below  the  Puna  level,  or  at  7000  to  8000  feet  above  the  sea, 
there  is  a  line  of  depressions  which  includes  the  great  Salar  de 
Atacama  and  the  Salar  de  Punta  Negra.  These  are  enclosed 
on  their  western  side  by  the  Cordillera  Domeyko  (Fig.  87). 
The  region  is  considered  as  a  portion  of  the  Desert  of  Ata- 
cama, because  in  its  irrigated  sections  are  produced  fruit, 
grain,  and  forage  in  abundance  in  contrast  to  the  cold,  deso- 
late, and  largely  uninhabitable  character  of  the  high  Puna 
country  (see  Chapter  XII).  It  is  quite  a  different  world, 
and  after  the  mountains  it  seems  extremely  hospitable. 

The  quality  of  the  relief  and  drainage  on  the  western  border 
of  the  Cordillera  de  los  Andes  and  about  the  basin  borders  in 
the  Desert  of  Atacama  is  shown  in  Figure  93,  which  is  a  reduc- 
tion from  a  contour  map  made  by  the  Penon  Syndicate. ^"^ 
The  map  is  especially  valuable  because  so  small  a  part  of 
the  Desert  of  Atacama  has  been  accurately  mapped.    The 

1"'  For  the  privilege  of  using  it  I  am  indebted  to  Mr,  George  H.  Carnahan  of  New 
York,  president  of  the  syndicate. 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


267 


reader  should  turn  to  Figure  94  below  for  a  similar  map  of 
the  Iquique  region,  the  two  maps  giving  an  excellent  picture, 
the  one  of  the  eastern,  the  other  of  the  western  half  of  the 
desert  country  of  northern  Chile. 


Fig.  94 — -Topographic  map  of  the  Iquique  region  showing  the  Coast 
Range,  steep  and  even  precipitous  in  places  on  the  seaward  side  and 
smooth-contoured  on  the  summit  and  eastern  border.     Compare  Figure  93. 

Upon  the  western  mountain  border,  as  shown  in  Figure  93, 
are  deep  but  narrow  ravines,  and  these  carry  water  to  inter- 
mediate levels  only.  None  of  the  flow  reaches  the  adjacent 
floor  of  the  Salar  de  Punta  Negra,  and  it  reaches  its  border 
only  at  the  rarest  intervals.  West  of  the  salar  is  broken 
country — a  series  of  isolated  peaks,  knobs  and  ridges  arranged 
in  no  system  and  all  alike  bordered  by  broad  sheets  of  allu- 
vium, rarely  affected  by  rainwash,  debris  from  the  long-con- 


268  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

tinued  erosion  of  the  desert  hills.  It  is  noteworthy  that  upon 
this  map  and  the  similar  one  of  the  Iquique  region  (Fig.  94)  not 
a  single  stream  appears  outside  the  mountain  belt.  Running  wa- 
ter is  entirely  absent  except  immediately  after  rains,  which  fall 
at  rarest  intervals  many  years  apart.  The  salts  of  the  basin 
floors  are  still  exposed  where  they  crystallized  out  as  the  lakes 
they  represent  dried  up,  though  in  some  cases  they  are  covered 
with  a  veneer  of  dust  and  alluvial  silt  or  sand. 

It  is  an  interesting  discovery  that  the  effects  of  aridity  are 
self-stimulating  and  cumulative.  In  the  West  we  have  the 
expression  "Too  dry  to  rain,"  and  this  is  literally  true,  for  once 
the  air  becomes  sufficiently  dry  it  takes  an  immense  amount 
of  moisture-laden  invading  air  to  displace  it  or  to  furnish 
moisture  enough  to  offset  evaporation  in  the  lower  air  even 
when  there  are  local  showers  in  the  upper  air.  The  rain  in  such 
cases  sometimes  actually  fails  to  reach  the  ground. 

The  self-stimulating  effects  of  dryness  are  seen  equally  well 
or  better  (because  more  constantly  in  evidence)  in  drainage 
features.  Between  Fiambala  and  Uyuni  is  a  broad  stretch 
of  country  in  which  this  is  best  seen.  Only  a  few  basins  are 
able  to  collect  sufficient  waters  to  overflow  the  lowest  point 
on  their  rim  and  thus  to  join  their  fluvial  system  with  that 
of  a  basin  at  a  lower  level.  Given  a  greater  amount  of  rain  we 
shall  have,  let  us  say,  substantial  streams  like  the  Lipez,  that 
flows  into  the  Salar  de  Uyuni  from  the  south,  or  the  Mauri, 
that  comes  out  of  the  Western  Cordillera  in  central-western 
Bolivia  to  join  the  Desaguadero.  The  effect  is  to  cause  a 
junction  of  a  number  of  large  streams  upon  a  basin  floor  in 
the  form  of  a  large  lake  or  large  salar  or  both.  Upon  the 
southern  borders  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  particularly  in  the 
basin  of  Fiambala,  for  example,  we  have  the  water  supply 
gathered  together  in  sufficient  volume  to  cause  channel  ways 
to  exist  over  the  whole  of  the  basin  floor,  though  the  streams 
are  of  the  intermittent  variety ;  and  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
basin  these  waters  are  gathered  together  from  the  subsoil  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  enable  the  stream  to  maintain  its  course 
through  the  narrow  southern  exit  of  the  basin  to  Tinogasta 
and  beyond. 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


269 


M  .. 


Fig.  95 


s. 


Fig.  96 

Fig.  95 — Zone  of  woodland  on  the  mountain  slopes  above  Rosario  de  Lerma, 
west  of  Salta,  between  4500  and  6000  feet. 

Fig.  96 — Above  the  woodland  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Andes  in  northwestern 
Argentina  the  increasing  dryness  diminishes  the  pastures  and  brings  about  a 
growth  of  cactus  which  in  places  occurs  in  such  dense  stands  as  to  form  almost 
a  forest. 


270  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Pasture  and  Woodland 

It  happens  that  the  broadening  of  the  mountain  belt  of  the 
Andes  of  northwestern  Argentina  takes  place  in  just  the  zone 
in  which  regular  easterly  winds  begin  to  appear.  The  farther 
north  we  go,  the  more  regular  become  these  winds;  and  in 
central-eastern  Bolivia,  where  the  mountain  belt  is  broadest, 
and  thence  northward  through  eastern  Peru  the  easterly  winds 
are  the  regular  trades.  It  is  in  this  belt  that  forest  almost 
completely  displaces  grassland.  Northwestern  Argentina  is 
the  region  in  which  the  change  takes  place  from  desert  plain 
to  grassland  and  woodland  in  contrast  to  the  true  forest  that 
clothes  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes  farther  north.  On  a 
simple  mountain  border  against  which  blow  prevailing  winds 
we  always  find  a  belt  of  maximum  precipitation,  and  there, 
too,  the  heaviest  forests  grow.  Such  a  belt  varies  in  height 
above  sea  level  according  to  the  general  geographical  situation 
and  the  height  of  the  surrounding  country.  In  the  Himalayas 
it  is  from  4000  to  5000  feet,  in  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountains  in  California  it  is  at  a  comparable  altitude, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains  of  eastern 
North  America  there  appears  to  be  increasing  rainfall  to  the 
summits  (4000  to  6000  feet) ;  but  the  belt  of  densest  forest  in 
the  Appalachians  is  lower  than  the  belt  of  maximum  rain 
because  of  the  effects  of  winter  snow,  cold,  and  wind,  which 
result  in  there  being  a  cold  timber  line  rather  than  a  dry 
timber  line  at  the  top  of  the  forest. 

We  found  the  zone  of  maximum  precipitation  on  the  moun- 
tains west  of  Salta  to  be  marked  by  a  belt  of  temperate-zone 
woodland  between  4500  and  6000  feet.  Above  the  woodland, 
scattered  groves  grow  in  favorable  places,  and  belts  of  timber 
extend  up  the  shadier  and  moister  valley  floors.  The  higher 
country  bears  a  thin  cover  of  herbaceous  vegetation  which 
gradually  changes  to  the  scattered  clumps  of  ichu  grass  at  the 
highest  elevations.  Up  to  10,000  feet  barley  is  grown;  above 
that  elevation  potatoes  are  the  chief  vegetable  product.  The 
grasslands  are  the  seat  of  pastoral  population  groups.  In  the 
forest,  agriculture  and  grazing  are  combined.    Below  the  forest. 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


27  1 


a  more  intensive  agriculture  is  practiced  with  irrigation. 
Those  streams  that  have  their  chief  tributaries  in  the  forest 
belt  are  most  constant  in  flow  and  furnish  to  the  population 


Fig.  97 — Desert  growth  on  the  dry,  gravelly  floor  of  the 
Calchaqui  valley  northeast  of  Cachi,  elevation  8500  feet.  Be- 
yond the  candelabra  type  of  cactus  in  the  foreground  may 
be  seen  the  more  common  columnar  type,  the  wood  of  which  is 
shown  in  detail  in  Figure  98. 

groups  on  the  mountain  border  the  means  for  agriculture  and 
stock  raising  on  a  large  scale. 

West  of  Rosario  de  Lerma  (Fig.  95)  the  woodland  begins 
almost  at  the  border  of  the  plain,  clouds  hanging  over  the  head 
of  the  lower  secondary  ranges  almost  constantly  winter  and 
summer.    Traveling  up  the  Escoipe  ravine  one  enters  a  zone 


272 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


of  dense  woodland  with  patches  of  true  forest  marked  by 
tall,  wide-spreading,  moss-draped  trees  and  an  abundance 
of  vines,  heavy  undergrowth,  and  the  like,  all  with  a  distinct 
subtropical  aspect  both  in  type  and  in  density.  The  abundance 


Fig.  98 — The  outer  shell  of  a  cactus  called  cardSn.  It  is  used  in  place  of  lumber 
for  window  frames,  door  lintels,  furniture,  and  the  like.  The  left-hand  figure 
represents  the  inside  of  the  piece;  the  right-hand  figure,  the  outside;  and  the 
center,  the  edge.   The  scale  is  one-half  natural  size. 

and  variety  of  the  woodland  flora  reflect  the  ample  seasonal 
rains,  but  the  stands  of  timber  from  place  to  place  lack  that 
touch  of  luxuriance  characteristic  of  the  true  tropical  forest  and 
shown  not  only  in  the  height  of  the  tallest  trees  but  in  exuber- 
ant undergrowths  and  a  top  story  of  specialized  climbers.  At 
5500  feet  the  tree  growth  stops,  not  altogether  abruptly  but  so 
definitely  that  the  outliers  at  the  upper  edge  of  the  forest  are 


THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


273 


rather  closely  confined  to  slopes  with  a  southern  exposure  or 
to  valley  floors  with  an  abundance  of  ground  water. 

Above  the  forest  the  slopes  are  covered  with  an  extraordi- 
nary growth  of  cactus.  It  has  in  places  the  suggestion  of  a  for- 
est aspect  (Fig.  96).   Between  the  upper  edge  of  the  forest  and 

HIGH    PUNA     _ 


Fig.  99 — Composition  of  cloud  zone  and  woodland  and  grassland  belts  on 
eastern  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  under  characteristic  topographic  condi- 
tions. In  A  the  border  ranges  are  low,  the  prevailing  east  wind  of  summer  carries 
cloud,  the  belt  of  maximum  precipitation  is  located  on  or  near  the  Puna  border, 
and  both  it  and  the  low  border  ranges  have  corresponding  belts  of  scrub  and  grass. 
Both  border  and  outer  valleys  are  irrigated,  and  the  outer  one  may  be  very  dry. 
The  inner  one  has  a  large  and  important  main  stream  with  an  abundance  of 
tributaries.  The  high  Puna  is  above  the  belt  of  heavy  rains  at  all  seasons  and  has 
only  a  meager  vegetation  of  clump  grass  and  moss.  In  B  the  high  border  ranges  cut 
off  the  rain-bearing  winds  so  effectively  that  there  is  a  belt  of  pronounced  rainfall 
(seasonal)  and  a  growth  of  woodland  (i)  with  grassy  belts  above  and  below  it. 
The  deep  border  valley  (4)  and  the  low  outer  valley  (3)  are  both  irrigated.  The 
pasture  belt  at  2  in  B  is  less  pronounced  than  at  i  in  A,  being  sustained  by  occa- 
sional showers  only  as  the  cloud  belt  is  driven  westward  at  rare  intervals  or  the 
deep  border  valley  fills  with  cloud.  The  valley  floor  of  B  4  is  semiarid  in  parts, 
and  the  stream  flow  is  uncertain,  although  the  high  pastures  of  the  bordering 
upper  slopes  are  dependable  in  summer,  and  springs  are  fairly  numerous. 

the  settlement  of  San  Fernando  in  the  Escoipe  valley  (1800 
meters)  are  the  densest  cactus  stands  that  I  have  seen  any- 
where in  South  America.  They  are  distinctly  better  developed 
upon  the  hillsides;  the  floor  of  the  valley  is  occupied  by  grasses 
and  shrubs  rather  than  by  cactus.  Farther  up  the  valley  (Fig.  62) 
we  come  to  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo,  and  here 
the  trail  zigzags  upward  to  a  height  of  3300  meters  at  the  crest. 


274  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Cactus  appears  again  upon  the  eastward-facing  slopes,  and  one 
looks  down  over  them  into  the  fertile  valley  floor,  where  wheat 
and  barley  and  corn  are  produced,  upon  the  smooth-con- 
toured lower  slopes  and  the  terraced  floor  of  the  valley  itself. 
It  is  a  very  pleasant  landscape  that  is  spread  out  to  view. 

West  of  the  Cuesta  del  Obispo  one  enters  a  broad,  waste- 
strewn  valley  floor  after  descending  a  steep  and  in  places  rocky 
trail  from  the  pass.  After  crossing  this  broad  alluvium-filled 
depression  and  a  second  narrow  range  one  comes  out  upon  the 
plain  of  Tintin,  where  the  trail  forks,  one  branch  going  west 
and  southwest  to  Cachi,  a  town  on  the  floor  of  the  deep  Cal- 
chaqul  valley,  and  the  other  branch  turning  abruptly  north  to 
Payogasta  and  Poma.  It  was  the  latter  that  we  followed,  trav- 
ersing the  dry,  waste-strewn  plain  in  the  middle  of  a  hot  after- 
noon when  clouds  hung  over  the  Sierra  de  Tintin  on  our  left 
hand  as  well  as  on  the  distant  Cordillera.  The  plain  of  Tintin 
is  covered  with  cactus  and  desert  shrubs  of  many  varieties. 
Figure  98  represents  the  structure  of  the  wood,  and  Figure  97 
the  field  situation  of  the  chief  columnar  cactus,  the  so-called 
cardon.  It  is  valuable  for  rafters  and  in  making  doors  and  door 
frames,  window  frames,  and  parts  of  outbuildings.  We  are 
here  far  above  the  forest  and  in  the  zone  of  low  winter  tempera- 
tures; but  the  cactus  continues  its  scattered  growth  all  the  way 
up  the  valley  and  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  main  mountain 
wall  to  surprisingly  high  elevations.  I  found  it  up  the  valley 
of  Pefias  Blancas,  almost  a  day's  journey  from  Poma,  at  an 
elevation  of  nearly  13,500  feet.  It  was  growing  chiefly  upon 
the  southern  (warmer)  wall  of  the  valley,  partly  on  lava  flows, 
partly  on  the  coarse  debris  washed  or  rolled  down  from  these 
flows  on  the  intermediate  slopes  of  the  valley.  It  is  here  sub- 
jected to  almost  nightly  frosts  for  a  part  of  the  year. 

I  found  similar  forms  at  elevations  exceeding  13,000  feet 
in  the  high  mountain  country  east  of  Iquique  beyond  the 
Cordillera  Sillilica,  where  there  are  nearly  six  months  of  cold 
weather  with  severe  frosts  at  night  and  often  violent  hail- 
storms by  day,  with  some  snow  occasionally. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 

Traveling  westward  over  the  Puna  de  Atacama  from  Poma 
at  the  eastern  foot  of  the  mountains  to  San  Pedro,  west  of  the 
great  cordillera,  one  leaves  the  last  outpost  of  settled  life  at 
1 1, GOO  feet,  at  the  border  of  the  mile-deep  Calchaqui  valley. 
Even  by  the  time  one  has  reached  Poma  the  forest  and  scrub 
of  the  eastern  foothills  and  front  ranges  have  been  passed, 
and  the  only  extensive  growth  besides  grass  and  shrubs  is 
columnar  cactus  that  extends  mountainward  far  into  the  zone 
of  frost  to  an  elevation  of  13,500  feet.  The  rim  of  the  Puna 
de  Atacama  begins  nearly  a  day's  journey  west  of  Poma, 
and  the  trail  climbs  rapidly  to  a  height  of  over  16,200  feet 
(4950  meters)  at  the  Abra  (Pass)  de  Peiias  Blancas.  The  last 
few  hundred  feet  of  the  trail  is  over  rough  volcanic  debris 
and  above  the  upper  limit  of  plant  life. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  pass  the  shepherds'  corrals  and 
huts  are  at  a  higher  elevation,  ranging  from  14,000  to  14,400 
feet.  The  first  substantial  huts  are  at  13,500  feet,  or  more 
than  2500  feet  below  the  pass.  We  passed  the  first  dwelling  sites 
on  June  22,  camping  at  14,250  feet  in  a  ravine  on  the  western 
side  of  the  pass;  and  the  following  day,  June  23,  we  camped 
at  the  edge  of  the  lake  and  borax  flat  at  Pastos  Grandes  at 
12,650  feet.  The  minimum  temperature  at  our  camp  at  14,250 
feet  was  14°  F.  on  the  night  of  June  22. 

The  eastern  mountain  wall  that  forms  the  rim  of  the  Puna  is 
a  divide  between  two  quite  unlike  worlds.  From  the  tops  of 
the  eastern  spurs  one  looks  far  down  into  another  climatic  belt 
to  what  appears  to  be  a  world  of  plenty.  The  alfalfa  meadows, 
the  barley  and  wheat  fields,  the  gardens  and  settlements  of 
the  Calchaqui  valley  are  the  chief  elements  in  the  border 
scenery.  West  of  the  divide  there  is  a  clinkery,  lava-covered, 
or  waste-strewn,  arid  surface.  It  has  many  minor  divides, 
huge  salars,  or  salt-covered  basins;  and  its  immense  sheets 

275 


276  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  lava  are  crowned,  especially  on  the  west,  by  a  belt  of  vol- 
canoes that  rise  locally  to  19,000  feet  with  passes  at  16,000 
feet.  So  scanty  is  the  vegetation  of  the  Puna  that  bare  rock, 
sand,  and  salt  reflect  the  strong  sunlight  of  these  high  altitudes 
to  the  great  discomfort  of  the  traveler.  Following  down  the 
sterile  volcanic  slopes  of  its  basins  one  commonly  passes  over 
loose  alluvium  forming  a  mile-long  piedmont  fringe,  material 
washed  down  from  the  higher  slopes  about  the  mountainous 
basin  border.  The  material  of  the  piedmont  fringe  becomes 
progressively  finer  as  one  descends,  and  it  ends  altogether  at 
the  edge  of  the  flat  salt-encrusted  surface  that  forms  the  basin 
floor.  The  lower  slopes  are  generally  marked  by  a  growth  of 
green,  resinous,  and  fragrant  tola  shrub;  and  it  is  in  the  belt 
of  tola  that  the  traveler  comes  upon  water  if  he  finds  it  at  all. 
From  an  elevated  lookout  on  the  trail  he  may  see  at  long 
intervals  the  green  and  naturally  irrigated  ribbons  that  thread 
the  piedmont  and  mark  the  sites  of  tiny  streams  issuing  from 
springs  or  seeps  on  the  mid-slope.  In  many  cases  the  water 
is  brackish  or  quite  salty.  In  a  few  cases,  commonly  at  intervals 
of  twenty  to  forty  miles,  sweet  water  may  be  found.  The  tola 
bushes  furnish  fuel  for  the  camp  fire,  and  the  ribbon  of  green 
furnishes  pasturage  for  the  mules. 

These  little  natural  oases  are  called  vegas,  and  their  location 
and  extent  are  one  of  the  chief  interests  of  the  traveler.  In 
their  absence  a  dry  camp  must  be  made,  and  the  mules  must 
go  another  day  without  water  and  subsist  upon  dry  barley,  a 
quantity  of  which  has  always  to  be  carried  as  a  necessary  part 
of  the  supplies.  A  camp  located  at  such  a  point  will  generally 
have  a  measure  of  protection  from  a  ravine  bank,  cut  in  the 
alluvium,  and  will  have  in  front  of  it  the  white  floor  of  the 
basin,  quite  flat,  with  dark  patches  here  and  there  where  open 
water  stands. 

Difficulties  of  the  Crossing:  The  Wind 

In  the  daytime  whirlwinds  sweep  across  the  piedmont  slopes 
and  the  salars,  lifting  their  great  yellowish  white  columns 
of  dust  to  altitudes  of  a  thousand  feet  and  more.  Everywhere 
are  signs  of  the  wind  in  long  ridges  of  wind-blown  stuff,  pebbly 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


277 


Fig.  100 


-■fa^*^ 


"-~"!:.i=ti^^ 


.''-av 


Fig.  ioi 

Fig.  too — Long  alluvial  slopes  characteristic  of  the  piedmont  belt  at  the  border 
of  the  intermont  basins  in  the  Puna  de  Atacama.     Elevation  13,000  feet. 

Fig.  ioi — The  descent  into  the  basin  and  mountain  countni'  of  the  Puna  de  Ata- 
cama after  crossing  the  eastern  border.  The  ichu  grass  in  the  foreground  is  char- 
acteristic.    Elevation  15,000  feet. 


278  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

pavements,  and  bunch  grass  streaming  down-wind.  Through- 
out the  day  the  wind  blows  with  great  persistence  and  generally 
with  high  velocity.  It  ceases  at  sunset  and  generally  does 
not  start  again  until  early  forenoon  of  the  following  day. 
The  nights  are  almost  always  cloudless  with  a  brilliant  sky. 
Most  fatiguing  are  the  effects  of  strong  winds  and  dust  day 
after  day.  Riding  obliquely  into  the  wind  or  down  it,  one 
finds  it  tolerable ;  but  it  is  extremely  irritating  when  one  rides 
directly  into  it.  Our  route  lay  toward  the  northwest  up  the 
long  eastern  slope  of  the  Western  Cordillera,  through  the 
pass,  and  down  the  western  slope;  and  this  took  us  right  into 
the  heavy  west  and  northwest  wind  that  is  the  most  striking 
winter  feature  of  the  meteorology  of  the  region.  We  had 
continuous  heavy  wind  in  the  daytime  and  a  temperature  that 
ranged  from  nearly  zero  Fahrenheit  in  the  morning  when  we 
broke  camp  to  a  little  above  freezing  most  of  the  day.  Though 
we  were  warmly  clothed,  the  wind  effect  was  so  great  that  we 
were  obliged  at  every  opportunity  to  dismount  and  warm  our 
fingers  and  toes  in  the  lee  of  the  ravine  walls  or  the  large 
boulders  that  lie  near  the  trail  under  the  pass.  The  constant 
drumming  of  the  wind  is  maddening  and  far  exceeds  the 
discomfort  of  cold.  It  is  like  living  next  a  factory  whistle  or  a 
proving  ground,  and  worst  of  all  is  the  realization  that  nothing 
can  stop  it! 

Seasonal  Temperatures  and  Rainfall 

We  crossed  the  Puna  de  Atacama  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
and  at  the  half-dozen  camps  established  during  the  crossing 
the  temperature  was  far  below  freezing  every  night.  At  our 
coldest  camp  the  lowest  temperature  was  —4°  Fahrenheit. 
The  last  day  and  a  half  in  the  mountains  we  rode  into  a  most 
exhausting  wind,  with  temperatures  between  1°  F.  at  6  A.M. 
and  42°  F.  at  2  p.m.  Kuhn^^°  has  averaged  his  summer  ob- 
servations taken  from  December  26  to  January  12  inclusive  at 
16  different  stations  with   the   following  results:  elevations 

ii"  Franz  Kiihn:  Beitrage  zur  Kenntnis  der  Argentinischen  Cordillere  zwischen  24° 
und  26°  stidl.  Br.,  Zeitschr.  Gesell.  fur  Erdkiinde  zii  Berlin,  1911,  pp.  149-172;  reference 
on  pp.  162-163. 


Desert  Trails  of  Alac, 


Amer.  Gcogr.  Soc   Sp.  Piibl.  No.  5.  IQ24.  Plate  3. 


I'IG.  104 


Fig.    102     Panorama  of  the  Nevado  San  Francisco  (8000  meters)  from  the  Nevatio  •li"  de  las  Losas.     This  is  a  voting  and  little-dissected  volcano  with  relatively  fresh  lava  flows 
in  the  foreground.    On  the  left  rise  the  slopes  of  the  Famatina  chain.     (From  a  photograph  by  Walther  Penck.) 

Fig.    103— The  northern  border  of  the  Salina  de  Pastes  Grandes  at  an  elevation  of  12.600  feet,  looking  southeast.     On  the  trail  from  Poma  to  San  Pedro  de  .'\tacania.     See  also  Fig- 
ures 108  and  log. 

Fio.    104— Panorama  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  from  the  crest  of  the  mountains  that  crown  the  eastern  border  of  the  Puna.     The  left-hand  section  lies  due  west;  the  middle  section 
northwest;  and  the  right-hand  section  north  of  the  observer. 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  279 

range  from  1 1,300  to  14,100  feet;  mean  maximum  temperature, 
21.4°  C.  (70.5°  F.);  mean  minimum,  —0.5°  (31.1°  F.) ;  mean 
10.4°  C.  (50.7°  F.) ;  mean  humidity,  37.5  per  cent.  Violent  rains 
of  short  duration,  with  thunder  and  Hghtning,  fall  only  during 
three  summer  months  of  December,  January,  and  February. 
During  the  rest  of  the  year  the  atmospheric  humidity  is  be- 
tween 50  and  65  per  cent.  While  there  are  no  weather  sta- 
tions in  the  Puna,  all  of  the  official  records  from  scattered 
stations  in  the  country  roundabout  show  very  meager  pre- 
cipitation: Humahuaca  (latitude  23°io')  has  155  mm.;  Ca- 
fayate,  in  the  Calchaqui  valley  (26°),  377  mm.;  Santa  Maria 
(26°45'),  180  mm.;  Tinogasta  (27°5o'),  no  mm.^i^  In  these 
and  other  stations  in  the  Andean  Zone  90  per  cent  of  the  rain 
falls  from  October  to  March. 

The  Puna  would  be  impossible  to  cross  if  the  climate  were 
less  dry,  for  the  great  elevation  of  the  country  would  turn  the 
winter  moisture  into  snow  and  deeply  blanket  the  entire  region. 
The  contrast  between  the  cold  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  and 
that  of  the  bordering  valleys  was  increased  during  our  journey 
by  the  fact  that  in  the  earlier  days  at  the  border  of  the  moun- 
tains we  had  most  delightful  weather,  somewhat  like  our 
'Tndian  Summer"  and  called  by  the  natives  after  the  feast  of 
St.  John  (June  24),  El  Verano  de  San  Juan.  The  guides  were 
in  great  haste  to  reach  the  point  on  the  trail  where  they  could 
see  the  active  volcano  Lascar,  near  the  pass  in  the  westernmost 
chain.  If  the  mountain  is  quiet  they  cross  leisurely;  when  it 
smokes  they  hurry  the  mules,  saying  that  the  weather  will  be 
bad.  So  intensely  cold  is  the  winter  season  that  the  shepherds 
migrate  from  the  higher  pastures  of  the  mountains  to  the 
warmer  lower  valleys  that  lie  In  the  edge  of  the  pampa  or  be- 
tween the  lesser  ranges  of  the  cordillera.  Even  at  the  lower 
elevation  of  8000  feet  near  Tamblllo,  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
great  Salar  de  Atacama,  the  temperature  fell  on  the  night  of  our 
stay  (June  29-30)  to  5°  F.  (-15°  C.)  at  6  a.m.,  after  a  daytime 
temperature  of  88°  F.  (31°  C.)  at  2  p.m.,  or  a  range  of  83°  F. 
(46°  C.)  in  eight  hours!    The  locality  is  not  far  from  the  end 

"1  W.  G.  Davis:  Argentine  Meteorological  Service:  History  and  Organization,  with 
a  Condensed  Summary  of  Results,  Buenos  Aires,  1914.  See  also  idein:  Climate  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  Buenos  Aires,  1910. 


28o  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  the  drainage  basin  of  the  Rio  Atacama,  on  the  floor  of  which 
are  San  Pedro  and  adjacent  towns.  We  were  then  near  enough 
so  that  we  could  just  see  the  dark-green  orchards  of  the  culti- 
vated section  of  the  valley;  and  our  guide  remarked,  "Ya 
tenemos  San  Pedro  en  bocillo"  (literally,  Now  we  have  San 
Pedro  in  our  pocket). 

Heavier  Snows  Make  Larger  Rivers 

The  extraordinary  thing  about  the  severe  cold  of  the  Puna  de 
Atacama  is  that  snow  so  infrequently  accompanies  it.  This 
is  not  merely  an  interesting  physical  fact  of  concern  to  the 
meteorologist.  It  is  geographically  important.  Mid-winter 
snows  that  block  the  passes  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  at  inter- 
vals of  several  years  become  more  frequent  as  we  go  southward 
towards  the  parallel  of  Copiapo,  where  heavy  winter  snows 
in  the  mountains  are  an  annual  occurrence.  In  a  short  dis- 
tance of  several  degrees  we  have  passed  from  one  climatic  belt 
into  another,  and  the  effect  is  immediately  seen  upon  the 
settlements  at  the  base  of  the  mountains.  The  Copiapo  and 
Huasco  Rivers  are  the  first  through-flowing  streams  of  any 
importance  whatever  that  we  see  on  the  map  south  of  the  Loa 
valley  (Fig.  86).  In  just  the  region  that  the  snows  become 
heavier  the  streams  take  on  a  more  permanent  quality.  They 
have  excavated  deep  valleys  that  give  access  to  the  main 
divide,  and  yet  the  prolonged  snows  make  the  crossing  of  the 
crest  of  the  mountains  more  difficult. 

Though  snow  in  some  quantities  falls  during  every  winter 
upon  the  high  cordillera  and  all  the  passes  into  Chile,  it  is 
only  at  intervals  of  a  few  years  that  the  fall  is  heavy  enough  to 
shut  off  communication  completely  for  several  weeks.  As  a 
rule  the  cattle  traffic  across  the  mountains  is  not  suspended 
because  of  this  danger,  though  it  introduces  a  source  of  great 
anxiety.  In  the  two  great  storms  of  July  22-26  and  July  30- 
Aug.  I,  191 1,  about  which  everyone  was  still  talking  when  I 
visited  the  region  two  years  later,  several  herders  and  two 
parties  of  chinchilla  hunters  lost  their  lives,  and  nearly  two 
hundred  head  of  cattle  perished  also.  The  cattle  got  out  of 
hand  and  strayed  about  at  will,  some  to  graze  on  the  fresh 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DK  ATACAMA  281 

grass  at  the  border  of  the  water  that  runs  from  the  springs 
of  Aguas  Calientes,  others  sought  shelter  hchiiul  angles  of  the 
gorge  walls,  and  still  others  wandered  about  the  mountain 
slopes  or  climbed  up  into  the  sheltered  ravines.  At  one  point  I 
counted  seventy  skeletons  picked  clean  by  the  condors  that 
hover  over  the  droves  as  they  drift  slowly  across  the  Puna. 
To  rescue  the  men  a  relief  expedition  had  been  organized, 
which  was  able  to  make  its  way  into  the  mountains  only  with 
the  greatest  dif^culty.  The  snow  was  from  5  to  10  feet  deep 
in  the  high  country  and  from  8  to  10  inches  deep  even  in  the 
desert  at  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  (8000  feet).  Even  when  the 
crossing  is  free  from  snow,  both  cattle  and  men  often  reach 
the  desert  on  the  west  scarcely  able  to  walk  on  account  of  the 
dust  and  the  cold  and  the  terrible  viento  bianco  which  glazes 
the  eyeballs  of  the  beasts  and  blinds  them.  At  the  Alto  de 
Lari  (16,500  feet)  on  the  Antofagasta  road  "thousands  of 
head  of  cattle  have  left  their  bones."  ^^- 

At  short  intervals  along  the  trail  little  stone  shelters  a  foot 
or  two  high  are  built  to  offer  protection  to  travelers,  and  every 
boulder  beside  the  trail  is  a  refuge  behind  which  the  herders 
seek  temporary  relief  from  the  cold  wind.  Coming  from  a  high 
but  warm  valley  (Calchaqui)  and  going  to  a  hot  desert  (Ata- 
cama), these  men  are  not  prepared,  like  the  polar  traveler,  for 
the  arctic  weather  that  prevails  at  intervals  in  the  loftiest 
situations  of  the  Puna.  The  difficulties  and  risks  of  the  journey 
arise  from  improper  clothing  and  unaccustomed  exposure 
rather  than  an  inherent  quality  of  the  climate  itself.  No  amount 
of  clothing,  however,  can  make  up  for  the  deficiency  of  cir-. 
culation  caused  by  the  high  altitude.  The  effect  upon  heart 
and  respiration  is  annoying  but  is  not  the  chief  drawback. 
The  poor  circulation  results  in  loss  of  sleep  from  cold,  no  matter 
how  much  clothing  and  bedding  there  may  be,  nor  how  excellent 
its  quality.  During  our  journey  we  slept  inside  eiderdown  sleep- 
ing bags  stretched  out  on  sheepskins  placed  on  the  ground  and 

"2  J.  B.  Ambrosetti:  Viaje  a  la  Puna  de  Atacama,  Bol.  Inst.  Geogr.  Argentina,  Vol. 
21,  1903,  pp.  87-116.  For  a  graphic  description  see  Alejandro  Bertrand:  Memoria 
sobre  la  esploracion  a  las  Cordilleras  del  Desierto  de  Atacama,  efectuada  en  los  meses 
de  enero  a  abril  de  1884,  Annario  Hidrogr.  de  la  Marina  de  Chile,  Vol.  10,  Santiago  de 
Chile,  1885,  pp.  1-299. 


282  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

covered  with  several  layers  of  saddle  blankets.  It  was  Im- 
possible to  keep  warm  even  under  these  conditions,  and  the 
loss  of  sleep  and  the  bad  circulation  resulted  in  skin  eruptions 
and  eczema  wherever  there  was  chafing  from  the  saddle  dur- 
ing the  day.  So  far  as  sleeping  was  concerned  we  were  as 
well  provided  as  an  arctic  traveler  and  for  the  same  degree  of 
cold,  but  the  altitude  reinforced  the  cold  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  records  of  the  thermometer. 

The  deaths  among  the  chinchilla  hunters  of  whom  we  have 
spoken,  among  the  herdsmen  who  follow  the  cattle  trails  across 
the  Cordillera,  and  among  the  shepherds  that  come  into  the 
high  country  from  the  desert  below  are  brought  to  one's  at- 
tention by  the  occasional  rude  cross  that  marks  the  burial 
place  of  a  native.  Beside  the  trail  are  other  marks  of  special 
interest.  There  is  an  apacheta  with  a  lined  chamber  in  which 
are  p'aced  offerings  of  coca  cuds;  whittled  sticks  and  candles 
are  also  left  by  passing  Indians,  and  prayers  are  offered  for 
the  safety  of  the  crossing.  I  had  seen  apachetas  of  another 
variety  in  many  places  on  the  divides  of  Bolivia,  northern 
Chile,  and  Peru,  where,  especially  in  the  high  passes,  piles  of 
rough  stones  are  gathered  together  to  mark  the  summit.  Each 
traveler  adds  a  stone  for  good  luck,  and  thus  some  of  them  on 
the  oldest  trails  have  grown  to  be  of  large  size.  For  example, 
in  the  Cordillera  Sillilica,  east  of  Iquique,  there  is  one  that 
stands  at  least  ten  feet  high,  with  a  wide  circumference.  Those 
of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  had  been  made  more  carefully,  and 
their  use  was  more  serious;  in  short,  they  are  a  kind  of  shrine 
and  not  merely  a  mark  of  the  trail  (see  Figs.  6-8). 

The  Forage  Question 

The  two  principal  salt  basins  on  the  route  between  Poma 
and  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  are  Quiron  and  Rincon,  and  neither 
has  more  than  a  trifling  supply  of  fresh  water.  A  few  springs 
occur  at  the  base  of  the  piedmont;  and  each  one  is  marked,  as 
we  have  said,  by  a  strip  of  a  local  pasture  and  a  belt  of  tola. 
The  scattered  forage  is  in  the  form  of  ichu  grass.  The  mules 
are  hobbled  and  turned  out  to  graze.    Sometimes  they  are  left 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


283 


ISfHSf^'*'-'"^' 


Fig.  105 


Fig.  106 


Fig.  107 

Fig.  105 — Borax  lake  and  bordering  clumps  of  bunch  grass  at  12,500  feet  at 
the  border  of  Salar  de  Quiron.     For  location  see  lat.  24°  30',  Figure  87,  page  259. 

Fig.  106 — The  salar  of  Aguas  Calientes.  The  black  surface  is  grass;  the  white  of 
the  background  is  salt;  the  white  spots  in  the  foreground  are  ice;  the  skeletons  are 
those  of  cattle  that  perished  in  a  great  snowstorm  in  1907.    For  location  see  Fig.  87. 

Fig.  107 — Small  salar  right  under  the  eastern  slope  of  the  pass  in  the  Western 
Cordillera,  or  main  chain  of  the  Andes,  above  Socaire.  Note  the  rounded  slopes  in 
the  background  and  the  subdued  relief. 


284  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

to  wander  over  the  whole  piedmont,  but  wherever  possible 
they  are  driven  some  distance  up  a  ravine  or  quebrada  where 
it  is  hoped  they  will  remain  until  morning.  At  daylight 
the  muleteers  gather  tola  bushes  for  fire  and  then  set  out  to 
look  for  the  mules,  which  may  have  strayed  several  miles 
from  the  camp  and  be  quite  invisible.  When  the  cold  is  most 
intense  they  have  to  be  watched  part  of  the  night  and  re- 
peatedly driven  back  to  a  selected  pasture  site ;  otherwise  they 
start  back  on  the  home  trail,  and  it  takes  half  of  the  following 
day  to  recover  them.  At  such  times  they  stop  feeding  al- 
together, especially  if  the  water  is  brackish,  and,  though  fa- 
tigued by  the  day's  toil  and  by  the  effects  of  altitude,  they 
nevertheless  make  their  way  along  the  trail  at  surprising  speed. 
To  awaken  on  a  cloudy  morning  when  the  guides  are  anxious 
about  snow  and  one  is  several  days'  travel  from  the  high  passes 
On  either  side  and  to  look  about  for  miles  in  all  directions  and 
see  not  a  sign  of  one's  transport  animals  is  rather  disconcerting 
in  spite  of  the  arrieros'  assurance  that,  "When  the  pot  boils 
over  the  mules  return  from  up  the  quebrada." 

In  the  long  stretch  from  Rincon  to  Catua  or  Liri  there  is  no 
grass — only  shrubs,  llareta  (moss),  and  a  very  few  lowly  cacti. 
Among  the  grasses  is  the  poisonous  vizcachera.  Horses,  mules, 
and  asses  die  within  two  or  three  hours  after  eating  it,  even 
in  small  quantities.  The  Indians  say  that  cattle  and  llamas 
are  immune,  but  they  probably  do  not  eat  it.  All  the  muleteers 
know  the  grass  and  its  distribution,  and  if  they  have  to  pass 
through  it  they  drive  their  mules  at  a  gallop  to  prevent  them 
from  eating  it.  Several  times  our  Puna  guides  passed  the 
mouths  of  ravines  with  apparently  good  pasture  and  water 
because  the  grass  was  poisonous;  and  there  is  constant  talk 
among  the  guides  of  the  localities  where  the  vizcachera 
abounds.  Out  of  one  pack  train  of  ninety  mules  seventy-five 
died  as  a  result  of  feating  it.  It  has  been  found  to  give  rise  in 
the  stomach  of  the  animal  to  prussic  acid. 

In  the  quebradas  of  the  mountains  are  queiioa  which  some- 
times attains  a  height  of  four  meters.  Among  trees  it  attains 
the  highest  altitude  in  the  cordillera  and  forms  small  groves  in 
favored  sites.     Its  trunk  and  branches  are  twisted.     In  places 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA 


285 

1 


Fig.  108 


Fig.  109 

Fig.  108 — Looking  east  at  the  western  face  of  the  mountain  range  that  sur- 
mounts the  eastern  edge  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  on  the  trail  between  Poma  and 
Salina  de  Pastes  Grandes.     Elevation  just  under  16,000  feet. 

Fig.  109 — Belt  of  bushes  and  bunch  grass  along  a  line  of  water  seepage  at  the 
border  of  the  basin  of  Pastos  Grandes.  The  tola  bush  and  similar  shrubs  pre- 
dominate in  these  situations,  and  though  they  are  widely'  distributed  their  best 
stands  at  high  elevations  are  in  sites  especially  favored  with  a  good  water  supply. 


286  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

it  forms  a  protection  against  the  wind.  There  is  a  small  com- 
merce in  cactus,  the  sole  wood  for  construction  of  floors, 
benches,  tables,  etc.  The  best  pastures  for  the  sheep  are 
found  on  the  flanks  of  the  Cordillera;  only  mules,  asses,  and 
llamas  can  subsist  upon  the  grasses  of  the  high  plateau  except 
in  quite  special  situations,  as,  for  instance,  at  the  vegas  or 
cienegas,  the  naturally  irrigated  spots  where  there  is  more 
grass  than  usual.  In  the  great  stretch  of  country  that  forms  the 
western  half  of  the  Puna  the  shepherds  do  not  come  at  all, 
and  it  is  not  until  one  reaches  an  elevation  of  14,400  feet  on  the 
western  range  that  signs  of  their  occupation  are  found. 

Of  agriculture  there  is  very  little  in  the  Puna:  alfalfa  and 
barley  in  special  places;  potatoes,  quinoa,  and  habas,  or  beans. 
Corn  is  produced  in  valleys  protected  from  the  wind,  and  both 
cobs  and  corn  have  been  found  in  pre-Hispanic  graves  and 
in  fields  and  terraces  now  in  ruins  on  the  borders  of  the  Punade 
Jujuy,^^^  showing  that  the  plant  had  been  cultivated  on  a  great 
scale  and  indicating  either  that  the  climate  has  changed  since 
that  period  or  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Puna  de  Jujuy  in  pre- 
Hispanic  times  imported  some  of  their  provisions  of  corn  from 
lower  lands  or  from  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  across  the  Puna, 
which  was  then  inhabited  by  people  of  the  same  stock.  Horses 
cannot  live  upon  the  high  plateau;  only  mules  and  asses  and 
flocks  of  sheep  and  llamas  constitute  the  basis  of  wealth. 
The  mineral  industry  of  the  Puna  is  almost  abandoned  today 
because  of  the  high  cost  of  transport;  it  employs  Uareta  as  fuel 
for  steam. 

Mail  Service  Across  the  Puna 

In  spite  of  the  severe  climate  of  the  Puna,  three  mails  a 
month  are  maintained  between  Salta  and  San  Pedro  de  Ata- 
cama over  a  distance  of  300  miles  (480  kilometers).  The  mail 
carriers  relay  the  mails  and  arrange  the  relays  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  travel  both  day  and  night,  thus  covering  this  great 
distance  in  six  days.  Sometimes  the  mail,  like  the  cattle 
driving,  is  held  up  for  two  weeks  by  deep  snows. 

1"  Eric  Boman:  Antiquites  de  la  region  andine  de  la  Republique  Argentine  et  du 
Desert  d'Atacama,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1908;  reference  in  Vol.  2,  p.  410. 


CROSSING  THK  PUNA  DH  ATAC  AMA  287 

The  route  runs  by  way  of  Cachi.  The  route  between  San 
Pedro  and  Cachi  is  supported  by  international  arrangement 
between  Argentina  and  Chile,  each  country  supplying  half  the 
necessary  cost,  but  the  carriers  are  Argentinians  wholly. 
From  Cachi  to  Salta  on  the  east  and  from  San  Pedro  to  Calama 
on  the  west  the  mails  are  carried  according  to  separate  domes- 
tic arrangements  made  by  the  respective  governments.  The 
mails  from  the  east  arrive  at  San  Pedro  on  the  5th,  15th,  and 
25th  of  the  month  and  leave  on  Thursday  and  Monday  after- 
noons for  Calama,  so  that  two  mails  a  week  are  maintained 
between  San  Pedro  and  the  railway. 

Passes,  Trails,  and  Camps 

Three  principal  trails  cross  the  Puna  de  Atacama.  The 
southernmost  one  leaves  the  railroad  at  Tinogasta  (Fig.  i), 
goes  northward  to  Fiambala,  thence  west  and  north  to  the 
head  of  the  Chaschuil  valley,  swings  westward  at  the  volcano 
San  Francisco,  finds  the  headwaters  of  the  Copiapo  River, 
and  descends  to  Copiapo.  The  trail  has  been  in  active  use  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years  and  was  connected,  through  trib- 
utary trails,  with  Catamarca  and  other  towns  of  north- 
western Argentina  long  before  the  railway  reached  these 
points.  In  fact,  it  long  gave  the  settlements  of  northwestern 
Argentina  their  most  direct  access  to  the  sea. 

A  second  trail,  of  much  less  importance,  extends  from  Ro- 
sario  de  Lerma  southwest  to  Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra,  thence 
west  across  the  Salar  de  Antofalla  to  Lorohuasi,  and  thence 
northward  to  Aguas  Calientes  (Fig.  i),  and  to  the  pass  of 
Agua  de  la  Falda  in  the  Western  Cordillera.  Thereafter  it 
crosses  the  Cordillera  Domeyko  and  descends  to  the  nitrate 
desert,  with  branches  to  the  country  back  of  the  ports  of  Tal- 
tal  and  Chafiaral.  A  third  trail  runs  from  Poma  to  Antofa- 
gasta de  la  Sierra.  It  was  formerly  a  goods  trail  but  is  now 
used  almost  exclusively  for  the  driving  of  cattle  from  the 
ranches  of  Salta  in  Argentina  to  the  nitrate  desert  of  Chile. 
There  are  other  trails  that  branch  off  from  these  three  main 
routes  to  touch  at  settlements  of  minor  importance  and  to 
furnish  alternative  routes  to  secondary  settlements  on  the  two 


288  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

sides  of  the  Andes.  In  addition  to  the  principal  trails  that 
cross  the  Puna  from  one  side  to  the  other  there  are  many 
other  trails  or  traces  that  connect  interior  points. 

By  one  or  another  of  the  three  main  trails  and  the  tributa- 
ries which  run  to  places  of  secondary  importance  every  settle- 
ment has  its  connection  with  places  both  near  by  and  distant; 
and,  though  the  routes  to  be  traveled  may  be  long  and  diffi- 
cult, time  is  of  little  importance,  the  cost  of  forage  is  small,  and 
an  exchange  of  products  makes  life  possible  no  matter  how 
isolated  the  spot  or  how  distant  from  the  larger  towns  of  the 
fertile  borderlands.  The  permanence  of  the  trails  of  the  Andes 
is  natural  when  we  consider  the  difficulties  of  so  broken  a 
passage.  The  commerce  has  varied  exceedingly;  but  the 
route,  the  type  of  carriage,  and  the  social  and  economic  struc- 
tures that  are  served  by  the  mountain  trail  have  been  little 
changed. 

In  the  tropical  forest  a  trail  may  be  overgrown  with  jungle  if 
it  is  abandoned  for  only  a  few  years.  The  muleteers  carry 
machetes,  long-handled  knives,  with  which  they  constantly 
snip  off  the  ends  of  intruding  branches  and  undergrowth.  In 
desert  country  it  is  the  signos  del  camino,  or  signs  of  the  way 
(trail  markers  one  might  call  them),  that  are  kept  in  repair. 
As  already  described  these  are  rough  piles  of  stone  or  may  be 
recessed  chambers  and  even  mortared  structures  or  may  be 
nothing  more  than  little  wooden  crosses  such  as  are  used  to 
mark  the  graves.  Again,  the  trail  marker  may  be  a  huge  cross 
or  a  tower  light.  Thus  while  in  a  few  years  a  trail  in  the  forest 
may  be  choked  and  even  forgotten,  a  trail  in  the  desert  re- 
mains a  trail  even  if  there  is  passage  over  it  only  at  intervals  of 
several  years.  The  trail  remains  a  fixed  feature  in  communica- 
tion from  settlement  to  settlement  The  Inca  road  through  the 
Desert  of  Atacama  is  said  to  be  traceable  over  many  leagues 
(cf.  p.  103).  The  trails  of  the  mountains  and  of  the  coastal 
desert  of  the  Central  Andes  have  therefore  had  a  continuous 
record  of  use  and  have  acquired  a  historical  importance  out  of 
proportion  to  most  trails  in  the  rest  of  South  America.  When 
the  settler  comes  the  trails  become  roads  or  all  trace  of  them 
disappears,  and  when  new  ranches  are  laid  out  new  needs 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DK  ATACAMA  289 

arise  in  more  closely  compacted  settlements.  But  the  fixed 
climate  of  desert  and  mountains,  the  open  character  of  the 
country,  the  thinness  of  settlement,  and  the  limited  popula- 
tion which  the  region  can  support  tend  to  keep  the  trails  in 
fixed  locations,  and  we  may  read  their  history  from  the  earliest 
colonial  times,  if  not  earlier,  down  to  the  present. 

The  Puna  de  Atacama,  for  example,  can  be  crossed  in  almost 
any  direction,  but  actually  it  is  crossed  in  certain  definite 
directions  determined  by  the  trails  that  follow  the  valleys  on 
the  border  of  the  Puna.  The  passes  of  the  border  are  reached 
by  trails  that  climb  by  moderate  grades  to  elevations  only 
one  or  two  thousand  feet  higher  than  the  Puna  basins  and 
valleys;  but  on  the  outer  side  of  the  Puna  there  are  very  steep 
and  rocky  descents,  and  the  valleys  that  offer  naturally  graded 
roads  determine  the  location  of  trails.  In  the  Pre-Cordillera — 
the  lesser  ranges  that  lie  east  and  south  of  the  great  wall  that 
constitutes  the  border  of  the  Puna — the  trails  follow  the  valleys 
through  the  belt  of  woodland  and  cross  by  passes  that  have 
been  in  constant  use  since  the  time  of  the  conquistadores. 
The  Calchaqui  valley  was  the  seat  of  a  dense  native  Indian 
population  in  the  earliest  colonial  times  and  has  continued  to 
be  a  center  of  agriculture  down  to  the  present.  A  north-south 
trail  from  Bolivia  to  northwestern  Argentina  passes  through 
it,  and  its  importance,  though  variable,  has  continued  down  to 
the  present. 

Farther  south,  in  the  region  of  Tucuman,  is  the  pass  of 
Pucara,  a  crossing  place  between  Andalgala  and  Tucuman, 
where  the  trail  climbs  up  over  the  southward  continuation  of 
the  Sierra  de  Aconquija.  Troops  of  cargo  mules  pass  con- 
tinually over  this  trail,  carrying  the  wine,  hides,  and  dried 
fruits  of  Andalgala  to  the  town  of  Tucuman  and  returning 
with  sugar,  tobacco,  and  rice.  At  first  a  mere  trace,  the  trail 
has  grown  in  importance  with  the  development  of  the  bordering 
ranches,  haciendas,  and  towns.  As  the  region  became  thickly 
settled  in  the  border  tracts  where  water  may  be  had,  the  trail 
became  more  frequented  and  was  in  almost  constant  use  up 
to  the  time  that  a  railroad  was  built  to  Andalgala.^^^ 

"4  Gunardo  Lange:  Las  ruinas  de  la  fortaleza  del  Pucara,  Anales  del  Museo  de  La 
Plata,  Seccion  de  Arqueolog'ia,  III,  La  Plata,  1892,  p.  5. 


290  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

The  Railroad  As  a  Rival  to  the  Trail 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  trade  by  trail  is  a  constant 
thing  or  that  there  is  a  permanency  to  the  commercial  life  of 
the  towns  to  which  the  trails  lead.  On  the  contrary,  there  is 
the  greatest  variation  in  the  commercial  fortunes  of  the  towns 
and  an  equally  great  variation  in  the  trade  by  trail  from  town 
to  town.  To  take  a  few  illustrations.  One  of  the  old  historic 
seaports  of  western  South  America  is  Gobi j  a,  now  a  place  of  no 
consequence  at  all — a  place,  in  fact,  that  may  be  said  to  be 
practically  non-existent ;  yet  in  its  day  it  was  the  port  of  entry 
of  a  trade  to  Potosi  (see  p.  73).  The  distance  was  575  miles. 
The  freight  included  almost  every  sort  of  thing  which  could 
be  found  in  a  city  of  that  time,  though  the  price  of  goods  con- 
veyed by  pack  train  was  increased  100  per  cent  in  the  transit 
across  the  Desert  of  Atacama  and  the  Western  Cordillera  to 
the  central  plateau.  The  lack  of  pasturage  and  water  made 
it  necessary  to  carry  forage  as  part  of  the  cargo,  and  this  of 
course  greatly  increased  the  cost.  When  the  mines  at  Cara- 
coles, Chile,  90  miles  east  of  Cobija,  were  opened,  they  com- 
peted so  successfully  with  the  port  merchants  for  carts  and 
mules  that  the  cost  of  trail  transportation  increased  im- 
mediately. It  was  only  as  late  as  1892  that  Oruro  was  con- 
nected with  Antofagasta  by  rail,  and  the  commerce  of  the 
trails  from  the  coast  declined  accordingly.  One  town  alone  has 
retained  its  earlier  importance,  and  that  is  Calama,  an  oasis  in 
the  Loa  valley,  now  a  station  on  the  railway  a  day's  journey 
northeast  of  Antofagasta. 

From  Calama  two  roads  lead  out  to  the  coast,  one  toward 
Tocopilla,  now  an  active  nitrate  port,  the  other  toward  Anto- 
fagasta and  Mejillones.  The  railway  has  taken  advantage  of 
the  same  depression  across  the  Andes  that  guided  the  routes 
of  the  earliest  caravans  to  Calama.  Many  trails  north  and 
south  of  Calama  have  been  tried,  but  there  has  not  been  dis- 
covered a  single  pass  for  hundreds  of  miles  in  either  direction 
that  can  compare  in  low  height  and  accessibility  with  this. 
The  first  effect  of  railroad  completion  on  Calama  was  de- 
pressive. When  the  town  lay  on  the  route  of  the  pack  trains  on 
the  wa}^  from  seacoast  to  high  plateau,  its  fields  and  pastures 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  291 

were  a  source  of  great  wealth  to  the  owners,  who  supphed 
forage  to  the  pack  mules.  When  the  railway  service  took  the 
place  of  pack-train  transportation,  Calama  became  only  a  way 
station  on  the  railroad  and  has  had  to  seek  other  sources  of 
wealth.  While  it  still  attracts  the  caravan  trade  of  a  small  dis- 
trict toward  the  southwest,  the  region  of  San  Pedro  de  Atacama, 
it  is  to  a  large  extent  deprived  of  the  advantages  that  its  po- 
sition formerly  gave  it  in  this  respect.  On  the  other  hand  the 
rapid  development  of  the  nitrate  establishments  in  ten  or 
fifteen  years  after  the  beginning  of  its  decline  stimulated  the 
production  of  forage  for  the  thousands  of  mules  employed 
on  the  caliche  carts  of  the  nitrate  works,  and  Calama  is  now 
without  exception  the  chief  hay-producing  center  in  the 
northern  half  of  Chile. 

Another  instance  is  afforded  by  Tinogasta  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountains.  Tinogasta  is  connected  with  Cordoba  by 
rail,  as  Copiapo  is  connected  with  central  Chile  by  the  longi- 
tudinal railway.  While  Copiapo,  like  Tinogasta,  is  important 
because  of  its  mines  and  irrigated  fields,  Tinogasta  is  impor- 
tant also  because  of  a  connection  with  three  other  towns  to 
the  north  that  supply  the  needs  of  a  large  semiarid  basin,  the 
bolson  of  Fiambala.  All  the  towns  are  agricultural  and  are 
supported  by  irrigation,  by  which  means  crops  of  wheat, 
maize,  alfalfa,  oats,  grapes,  figs,  oranges,  pomegranates,  olives, 
and  other  products  are  grown.  Though  the  population  is 
sparse  and  the  farms  scattered  on  the  western  side  of  the  basin 
opposite  these  towns,  their  commercial  needs  are  sufficient  to 
have  brought  into  being  a  number  of  considerable  settlements 
in  turn  tributary  to  the  villages  that  lie  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  basin,  where  the  four  chief  towns  are  located.  In  addition, 
both  farms  and  villages  have  a  connection  with  the  Puna  and 
the  sierras,  for  the  high  pastures  of  these  localities  support 
flocks  driven  thither  during  the  summer  season.  Connected 
with  this  community  life  and  the  entire  group  of  activities  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains  were  the  valleys  on  the  west, 
of  which  Copiapo  is  the  most  important.  With  improving 
conditions  as  in  the  rest  of  Chile  and  with  the  Pacific  steamship 
lines  to  serve  the  valley  of  Copiapo,  its  trade  across  the  moun- 


292  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

tains  into  Argentina  diminished,  and  the  effect  was  felt  upon 
the  four  principal  towns  of  the  Tinogasta  region,  where  Penck 
has  noted  signs  of  decay  owing  to  the  diminished  use  of  the  two 
ancient  trade  routes  which  converge  here,  the  one  coming  from 
Copiapo  and  the  other  from  Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra. 

What  we  have  here  is  a  reorganization  of  the  commercial 
life  of  a  group  of  mountain  communities  widely  dispersed  but 
having  well  established  relations  and  customs  that  have  come 
down  to  the  present  almost  from  the  time  of  the  Conquest. 
With  the  first  development  of  trade  in  South  America,  routes 
were  discovered  whose  trade  has  become  imbedded  in  the 
commercial  life  of  the  people  to  such  an  extent  that  when  that 
trade  is  relocated  it  produces  a  shock  upon  every  community 
involved.  That  shock  the  modern  railroad  has  supplied.  It  is  a 
matter  not  merely  of  romantic  interest  but  also  of  great  geo- 
graphical importance  to  trace  the  old  trade  routes  and  to  study 
the  trade  that  passed  over  them.  The  more  this  is  done  the 
closer  is  seen  to  be  the  relation  between  the  physical  circum- 
stances of  a  region  and  the  life  in  it  as  it  has  been  lived  for 
centuries. 

Other  Factors  of  Economic  Reorganization 

But  there  has  been  at  work  a  reorganizing  agency  still  more 
powerful  than  the  railway — the  large  commercial  companies 
that  were  called  into  being  by  the  railway  and  have  become  a 
new  instrument  for  the  development  of  mines  and  ranches. 
At  Salta,  for  example,  the  merchants  tap  the  cattle-raising 
districts  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  sending  their  product  in  part 
southward  by  rail  and  largely  westward  over  the  mountains  to 
the  nitrate  desert.  In  spite  of  the  hardships  of  the  mountain 
journey,  the  cattle  arrive  in  such  condition  as  to  be  acceptable 
to  the  workmen  of  the  nitrate  pampa;  and  there  is  no  freight 
charge,  thus  offsetting  the  loss  in  weight  which  the  herds 
incur  in  traversing  so  trying  a  region.  Mining  companies 
requiring  labor,  mules,  forage,  food,  and  materials  of  various 
kinds  have  shifted  the  interests  of  the  people,  giving  them  a 
new  orientation  with  respect  to  the  outer  world,  new  duties, 
and  a  measure  of  self-indulgence  through  prosperity  that  they 


CROSSING  THE  PUNA  DE  ATACAMA  293 

have  never  known  hitherto.  If  communities  are  not  disrupted 
by  such  changes  they  are  at  least  given  a  new  character,  as 
one  after  the  other  of  the  mineral  products  of  the  region  and 
one  after  the  other  of  the  railways  come  to  be  developed.  A 
geographical  group  that  has  lived  an  undisturbed  life  ever 
since  the  Conquest  finds  its  community  life  reorganized,  a 
serious  matter  particularly  for  pure  Indian  communities  that 
have  carried  on  a  fixed  relation  with  nature  not  merely  during 
the  past  four  hundred  years  but  from  time  immemorial. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PUNA  SETTLEMENTS 

Limits  to  Human  Occupation  of  the  Puna 

The  mountain  inhabitant  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  is  thoroughly 
accustomed  to  the  high  elevation,  but  this  is  far  from  saying 
that  his  system  is  perfectly  adapted  to  it.  Pneumonia  is  the 
most  common  cause  of  death  in  the  cities  of  the  high  plateau, 
though  it  must  be  said  that  the  immediate  cause  of  many  cases 
of  pneumonia  is  drunkenness.  For  white  occupation  the 
effects  of  elevation  are  a  great  handicap,  and  as  a  rule  it  is 
only  the  relatively  young  and  strong  who  are  able  to  endure  it. 
The  native  goes  to  the  highest  pastures  with  his  flocks  and 
lives  in  incredibly  high  situations,  but  he  is  by  no  means  free 
from  the  effects  of  soroche,  or  mountain  sickness.  Curiously 
enough,  the  effects  of  mountain  sickness  vary  from  place  to 
place,  even  at  the  same  level,  though  the  cause  of  the  variation 
may  be  different  among  individuals.  In  my  own  case  I  found 
it  dependent  in  large  degree  upon  the  general  weather  con- 
ditions, such  as  the  existence  of  wind,  the  effect  of  strong 
sunlight  upon  the  skin,  and  the  amount  of  accumulated  fatigue 
I  had  experienced  during  preceding  days.  The  Indian  in  many 
places  looks  upon  evil  spirits  as  the  cause  of  mountain  sickness 
because  of  the  variation  in  its  effects  from  place  to  place,  a 
matter  of  common  experience  to  him. 

The  high-level  basins  of  the  Puna  have  rocky  borders  and 
intervening  divides;  they  are  scattered  about  in  small  units 
instead  of  being  joined  into  master  units,  and  the  little  fresh 
water  that  exists  is  distributed  in  short  and  insignificant 
drainage  ways.  As  we  go  southward  from  the  Salar  de  Uyuni 
(Fig.  87)  we  pass  from  an  elevation  of  3680  meters  (12,070 
feet)  to  4000  to  5000  meters  (13,120  to  16,400  feet),  so  that 
to  the  repelling  effects  of  increasing  dryness  and  scattered  and 
meager  water  supply  there  is  added  increasing  elevation  with 
its  effect  upon  the  human  system. 

294 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  295 

Added  to  the  effects  of  dryness  and  increasing  altitude  as 
we  go  southward  from  western  Bolivia  to  the  Puna  de  Atacama 
in  northwestern  Argentina  is  the  effect  of  increasing  latitude. 
In  short,  we  have  a  culmination  of  four  unfavorable  condi- 
tions: first,  a  broad  mountain  zone;  second,  a  dryness  so  great 
as  to  be  self-stimulating  in  its  effects;  third,  the  effect  of  in- 
creasing altitude;  fourth,  the  increasing  cold  of  increasing 
latitude.  These  causes  combine  to  make  the  Puna  without 
exception  the  most  inhospitable  part  of  the  entire  Andean 
section  of  South  America  below  the  level  of  permanent  snow, 
whether  we  consider  the  winter  or  the  summer  season.  What 
the  summers  gain  in  temperature  they  lose  in  the  violence  and 
frequency  of  the  wind,  and  what  the  winter  lacks  of  violent 
local  tempest  is  made  up  for  by  the  increasing  risk  from  heavy 
snowfall  that  covers  the  whole  surface  and  fills  the  passes  and 
ravines  with  impassable  drifts. 

Unlike  the  shepherds  of  Peru  and  Bolivia,  who  pasture  their 
flocks  the  whole  year  round  at  the  highest  elevations  because 
they  are  able  to  endure  the  few  weeks  of  cold  weather  at  the 
height  of  the  winter  season,  most  of  the  shepherds  of  the  Puna 
de  Atacama  are  driven  out  for  an  entire  season.  It  would  be 
impossible  for  them  to  live  the  whole  year  through  at  most  of 
their  camp  sites  in  the  high  mountain  belt.  When  they  come 
to  the  lower  valleys  they  must  come,  not  as  vagrants  but  as 
owners,  with  rights;  else  their  migratory  system  would  be 
impossible.  They  customarily  leave  a  part  of  the  community, 
consisting  chiefly  of  boys  and  old  women,  at  the  lower  stations 
to  guard  their  fixed  property,  while  they  drive  their  flocks  to 
the  high  pastures,  and  especially  to  care  for  the  fields  and  the 
limited  crops.  When  the  winter  cold  sets  in  the  shepherds 
return  from  their  tiny  corrals  perched  on  the  mountain  sides 
and  come  down  to  the  lower  valleys,  where  the  fattened  flocks 
graze  upon  the  scant  herbage  of  the  valley  floor  and  the  dried 
stalks  of  desert  grasses. 

Political  Dependence 

The  settlements  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  are  governed  from 
the  town  of  San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres,  which  is  the  capital  of 


296 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  297 

the  Territorio  dc  los  Andes,  one  of  the  ten  "territories"  of  the 
Republic  of  Argentina.  In  the  Indian  view  the  lack  of  inter- 
ference in  local  manners  and  government  l^y  the  central 
authorities  is  a  great  advantage.  Certainly  it  would  hardly 
be  worth  the  while  of  the  central  government  to  attempt 
either  to  tax  or  to  control  the  slight  commerce  that  passes 
from  hamlet  to  hamlet  over  the  difficult  mountain  ways.  The 
Indians  enjoy  a  high  measure  of  independence  and  of  de- 
tachment, and  in  this  respect  their  life  is  little  altered  from 
the  conditions  of  the  last  four  centuries.  The  Puna  was  a  part 
of  the  territory  of  Bolivia  down  to  the  time  of  the  War  of  the 
Pacific.  So  distant  and  nearly  valueless  a  region  was  given 
little  thought,  and  sovereignty  was  purely  nominal  until  1883 
when  the  settlement  of  the  War  of  the  Pacific  was  made.  By 
the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Ancon  new  boundary  lines  were 
designated,  and  the  Puna  passed  into  the  possession  of  Chile. 
In  1899  Chile  ceded  the  territory  to  Argentina  as  a  result  of 
an  arbitral  judgment  by  the  United  States,  and  in  1900  it 
became  a  part  of  the  national  domain  of  Argentina.  In  1901 
Argentine  officials  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Indians  of 
the  region  and  entered  into  actual  possession  of  the  new 
territory.  It  was  then  that  the  Indians  petitioned  to  be  let 
alone  and  to  maintain  their  ancient  rights  of  pasture  and  occu- 
pation, and  to  this  the  government  has  wisely  consented.  The 
matter  is  important,  because,  from  colonial  times  until  the 
present,  property  boundaries  have  been  vague,  and  there  has 
been  no  actual  and  effective  occupation  by  white  men.  Some 
of  the  bordering  concessions  to  large  landowners  take  in  in- 
definite portions  of  adjacent  Puna.  This  is  all  the  more  serious 
to  the  Indian  inhabitant  because  in  his  view  private  property 
in  land  does  not  exist. 


Distribution  of  Settlements 

Of  isolated  settlements  in  the  Puna  there  are  many — in  some 
places  a  single  hut  with  two  or  three  families  or  again  a  cluster 
of  five  or  ten  huts  and  a  string  of  corrals.  In  the  Argentine 
census  of  19 14  the  population  of  the  whole  Territorio  de  los 


298  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Andes  is  given  as  2487  over  an  area  of  90,000  square  kilome- 
ters, (34,750  square  miles,  nearly  the  area  of  Indiana).  Distri- 
bution by  departments  is  thus:  San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres, 
961;  Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra,  378;  Pastos  Grandes,  268; 
Susques,  880.  Among  the  settlements  of  the  Puna  the  three 
most  important  because  of  their  connections  or  the  number  of 


L        ^J^"**    '=»=%:^^    V"    'rt-^ft        --^■^■Q.^       ^^ 

-^4.^ 

r^/--V2.-^^   ,--"          -'-.■ 

-^  a 

-~c:  "^"^Z^^  t:        l,i                  -            "^ 

■n  __ 

^s;^^  j».  jsst         *• 

^     "" 

sn,    ' 

— -^ — ^^    ■'fe'^        '*■'*■            ■• 

^■"           „^        -■    ^^^    V                -^            ^ 

^  "   *»«                                                       •.        » 

^    ^~     -<-^'*,---"    *r    ^"'^i- 

^  __ 

Fig.  Ill — Pen  sketch  of  Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra  drawn  from  photograph  on 
page  71  of  Vol.  I,  La  Frontera  Argentino-Chilena,  Demarcacion  General,  1894- 
1906,  Oficina  de  Limites  Internacionales,  Buenos  Aires,  1908. 

permanent  inhabitations  and  their  history  are  Antofagasta  de 
la  Sierra  (Fig.  iii),  San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres,  and  Susques. 
Their  elevations  are  respectively:  11,319  feet  (3450  meters), 
11,975  feet  (3650  meters),  12,467  feet  (3800  meters)  and  their 
populations,  250,  800,  and  400. 

Among  the  places  mentioned  above,  Antofagasta  de  la 
Sierra  has  the  largest  extent  of  cultivated  land.  It  can  boast 
of  8  hectares  (20  acres)  of  alfalfa  besides  675  hectares  (1660 
acres)  of  natural  pasture  watered  by  the  discharge  of  the  Anto- 
fagasta River,  on  the  left  bank  of  which  stands  the  village. 
The  place  consists  of  about  fifteen  occupied  huts,  and  there  is 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  299 

in  the  settlement  and  tributary  to  it  a  population  of  about 
250  souls  of  which  about  100  are  in  the  village  itself.  Judging 
by  the  number  of  abandoned  huts  it  must  have  been  of  greater 
size  in  times  past.  The  year  round  hundreds  of  cattle,  sheep, 
and  llamas  graze  upon  the  surrounding  pastures  {pastos  de 
vegas),  a  short  marsh  grass  interspersed  with  paja  brava,  or 
pajonal,  a  stiff  clump  grass  less  than  a  foot  in  height  as  a  rule. 
Pingo-pingo  (Fig.  77),  tola  at  higher  altitudes,  ground  moss, 
and  the  poisonous  vizcachera  also  grow  hereabouts.  To  the 
pastures  about  the  settlement  are  driven  in  winter  the  herds 
and  flocks  that  range  the  cordilleran  pastures  {pastos  de  cerros) 
in  the  more  tolerable  season  of  summer.  Here,  too,  graze  the 
cattle  from  lower  valleys  sent  thither  to  winter,  as  for  many 
years  past,  by  the  cattle  exporters  of  the  department  of  Belen 
(Catamarca).  Vicufia  and  chinchilla  hunting  are  supplemen- 
tary occupations.  The  exportable  products,  such  as  wool, 
meat,  and  skins,  are  taken  either  to  Tinogasta  on  the  south 
or  to  Salta  on  the  northeast  and  exchanged  principally 
for  wine,  brandy,  corn,  and  wheat.  The  place  benefits  from 
its  position  as  the  meeting  place  for  trails  which  penetrate 
the  Puna,  en  route  to  Pastos  Grandes,  Copiapo,  and  San  Pedro 
de  Atacama.  From  the  two  last-named  it  is  distant  10  and  7 
days'  journey  respectively.^^'' 

The  names  of  the  other  minor  settlements  in  the  Puna  de 
Atacama  are  as  follows:  Rosario  de  Atacama,  Pairique  Chico, 
Pairique  Grande,  Olaroz  Grande,  Olaroz  Chico,  Coranzuli, 
Catua,  Santa  Rosa  de  Pastos  Grandes,  and  Pastos  Grandes. 
Aside  from  those  mentioned  above,  almost  all  the  names  on  the 
map  are  only  isolated  Indian  huts  abandoned  or  temporarily 
inhabited  or,  as  is  often  the  case,  mere  camp  sites  which  are 
well  known  either  because  they  are  situated  at  the  crossing 
of  trails  or  because  of  the  good  quality  of  the  water  and  pas- 
ture or  because  they  are  on  the  border  of  the  grazing  grounds  of 
a  given  village.  These  places  are  occupied  for  a  short  time  only ; 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  the  inhabitants  follow  their 
flocks  into  the  mountains  and  camp  where  the  pasture  is  best 

"5  Catamarca  y  la  Puna  de  Atacama,  Bol.  Inst.  Geogr.  Argentina,  \'ol.  20,  1899, 
PP- 133-149- 


300  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

for  the  moment.  When  Eric  Boman  reached  the  village  of 
Susques  in  1903  he  found  it  quite  deserted.  He  sent  the  gen- 
darme to  examine  all  the  huts  without  meeting  a  single  person. 
He  learned  that  the  Indians  came  to  the  village  only  on  feast 
days! 

On  passing  the  salar  of  Pastos  Grandes  we  stopped  at  a 
typical  shepherd's  site  such  as  occur  not  infrequently  in  the 
eastern  and  warmer  half  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama :  an  isolated 
settlement  consisting  of  a  few  small  stone  corrals  and  a  stone 
hut  built  integral  with  a  steep  lava  cliff.  It  is  occupied  by 
two  families  throughout  the  entire  year.  The  elevation  is 
over  13,000  feet.  Some  of  the  huts  elsewhere  are  of  stone  or 
earth  stoutly  made  and  thatched  with  ichu  grass.  The  hut  in 
Figure  113  stands  at  the  edge  of  Cienaga  Grande,  at  13,250 
feet,  just  west  of  the  eastern  rim  of  the  Puna.  In  places  the 
houses  are  occupied  during  the  summer  months  only  and  then 
merely  as  a  base  of  supplies  for  the  wide-ranging  shepherds 
or  as  a  gathering  place  with  others  on  special  occasions.  The 
owners  also  leave  for  long  carrying  journeys  or  to  winter  in 
the  villages  of  the  warmer  valleys  where  they  have  access  to 
markets.  They  bar  the  windows  and  lock  the  doors,  leaving 
utensils  and  household  goods  behind  except  such  as  they  can 
readily  carry. 

Settlements  of  a  few  houses  and  families  which  are  insig- 
nificant from  the  standpoint  of  population  have  very  great 
importance  to  the  traveler,  and  it  follows  that  they  are  widely 
known  to  all  the  traders  and  to  the  Indian  cattle  drivers  and 
arrieros  and  the  chinchilla  hunters,  yet  they  are  really  quite 
insignificant  from  the  standpoint  of  the  large  currents  of  trade 
at  the  border  of  the  mountains.  In  a  few  localities  are  mines, 
and  from  all  the  eastern  line  of  salars  salt  of  good  quality  is 
extracted  to  be  carried  to  the  villages  and  towns  and  the 
cattle  ranches  in  the  eastern  valleys.  Where  they  are  most 
accessible  the  borax  salars  are  worked,  though  to  a  very  limited 
extent. 

The  Life  of  a  Puna  Village 

The  best  description  of  the  life  of  a  Puna  village  is  by  Eric 
Boman  in  his  excellent  study,  "Antiquites  de  la  Region  An- 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS 


301 


Fig.  112 


^5|SS^S'?SP^5l»:«:'5r«r;^-,»>--.iv-..r.— .—.--.  ,^ , 


^^ 


-% 


Fig.  113 

Fig.  112 — Stone  hut  and  corral  at  12,100  feet  in  the  ravine  of  Penas  Blancas 
above  Poma  in  the  belt  of  high  mountain  pasture. 

Fig.  113 — A  stone  and  an  adobe  hut  with  wooden  doors  made  of  cactus  stems,  a 
thatch  of  grass,  and  a  pile  of  tola  bushes  for  firewood  before  the  door.  The  eleva- 
tion is  13,250  feet  on  the  western  side  of  the  eastern  chain  of  mountains  that  forms 
the  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  where  it  overlooks  the  Calchaqui  valley. 


302  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

dine."  The  paragraphs  that  follow  are  based  almost  entirely 
upon  his  account  of  the  life  of  the  community  at  Susques. 
The  richest  Indian  of  the  district  of  Susques  had  at  the  time 
of  Boman's  study  (1903)  500  sheep,  400  llamas,  150  asses. 
There  are  some  goats  in  the  region,  but  the  climate  is  un- 
favorable for  them.  The  flocks  are  pastured  over  an  area  40 
kilometers  south  and  60  kilometers  north  of  the  village,  and 
to  protect  the  flocks  the  Indians  are  obliged  to  pass  all  their 
time  on  the  pasture  grounds.  The  whistling  of  the  Indian 
and  an  occasional  stone  thrown  from  a  sling  keeps  a  flock 
together  and  drifting  in  the  direction  of  fresh  pasture,  the 
shepherds  constantly  twisting  wool  into  yarn  as  they  drive 
the  animals  before  them.  In  some  seasons  the  sheep  perish  in 
large  numbers  of  the  cold,  entire  flocks  having  been  killed  in 
this  way. 

An  Indian  will  hardly  ever  kill  a  llama  or  sheep  for  food. 
He  considers  that  the  beast  is  so  much  capital  and  that  he 
must  use  only  the  interest  upon  this  capital,  that  is  the  wool; 
and,  if  it  be  a  llama,  there  is  also  the  service  that  it  can  render 
in  the  transport  of  merchandise.  When  a  beast  is  killed  its 
wool  is  taken  off  or  its  pelt  is  dried  in  the  sun,  without  salt. 
Its  flesh  is  made  into  charqui  and  is  used  sparingly  with  corn, 
potatoes,  and  the  like  as  stock  for  soup,  the  main  dish  for  the 
family  meal.  Salt  obtained  from  the  salars  and  pepper  (aji) 
from  the  lower  valleys  are  added.  Fresh  roasted  meat  is  a 
great  luxury  and  is  eaten  only  on  the  principal  feast  days. 
The  Argentine  puna  is  often  considered  as  the  southern  limit 
of  the  use  of  coca,  but  it  is  really  used  as  far  south  as  Cata- 
marca  and  La  Rioja,  especially  by  muleteers  who  go  back  and 
forth  to  Bolivia.  Coca  is  raised  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Bolivia 
and  Peru  at  an  altitude  above  4000  or  5000  feet,  but  so  far 
as  I  know  it  is  not  grown  in  Argentina  at  all.  The  Indians  of 
Susques  import  their  coca,  smuggling  it  in  across  the  frontier, 
the  authorities  being  unable  to  stop  the  illicit  trafhc.  Corn  is 
also  imported  from  the  lower  valleys,  quinoa  being  kept  as  a 
reserve  in  case  corn  is  lacking  for  any  reason.  By  way  of  ex- 
change they  have  asses,  hides,  wool,  and  woven  stuff.  The 
asses  are  sold  in  Bolivia  and  are  especially  serviceable,  for 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  303 

they  will  live  where  mules  cannot  stand  the  meager  forage. 
The  principal  market  for  the  sale  of  asses  coming  from  Susques 
and  other  parts  of  the  Argentine  puna  is  Talina  in  the  province 
of  Sud-Chichas,  Bolivia,  close  to  the  frontier.  Rarely  do  the 
Indians  of  Susques  go  farther  north,  to  the  great  Bolivian  fairs, 
as  those  of  Uyuni.  They  exchange  their  asses,  llamas,  and 
sheep  for  coca,  hats,  musical  instruments  made  by  the  Indians 
of  Bolivia,  and  the  like. 


The  Ancient  Salt  Industry 

An  important  part  of  the  commerce  of  the  Indians  of  Sus- 
ques is  in  salt  gathered  "raw"  in  certain  salars,  where  it  has 
crystallized  out  in  a  nearly  pure  state.  The  basin  of  Salinas 
Grandes  has  such  a  deposit.  It  is  an  immense  horizontal  bed 
of  salt,  varying  in  thickness  from  a  thin  crust  to  one  that  is 
two  feet  thick  with  an  extent  of  1500  square  kilometers. 
There  are  many  other  salars  or  salinas  of  larger  or  smaller 
extent  throughout  the  Puna.  In  the  pre-Hispanic  period 
Salinas  Grandes  furnished  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of 
Jujuy  and  Salta  all  the  salt  that  they  required;  and  this  it  has 
continued  to  do  even  down  to  our  times,  for  it  is  cheaper  from 
this  source  than  if  imported  by  rail.  The  method  of  extraction 
is  primitive.  The  Indians  who  live  in  the  Ouebrada  del  Toro 
leave  their  homes  and  travel  150  kilometers  (90  miles)  to  the 
salt  beds,  driving  a  train  of  10  or  20  asses.  Llamas  are  but 
little  employed  for  transport  at  the  present  time.  An  Indian 
takes  along  his  whole  family  at  times,  at  other  times  two  or 
three  Indians  join  to  make  the  journey,  each  one  with  four  or 
five  asses.  The  camps  of  troops  engaged  in  the  business  are  in- 
teresting to  see.  Blocks  of  salt  are  arranged  in  piles;  the  family 
sit  about  the  fire  and  roast  their  maize.  The  llamas  graze 
near  by  or  are  secured  in  the  usual  way  by  a  rope  of  twisted 
wool  run  about  the  necks  of  a  herd  standing  heads-in,  the  stiff- 
necked  beasts  being  so  stupidly  dignified  as  never  to  think  of 
dodging  under  the  rope!  The  Indians  cut  the  salt  in  blocks  a 
foot  square,  weighing  40  to  50  pounds,  put  one  on  each  flank 
of  the  ass  or  the  llama,  and  take  the  pack  train  to  the  town 


304  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  Salta  or  Jujuy,  where  the  salt  is  sold  for  about  15  cents  gold 
per  block.  The  asses  travel  very  slowly,  and  the  Indians  re- 
quire about  a  month  and  a  half  to  go  from  their  huts  to  the 
salt  beds,  thence  to  the  city,  and  back  again  to  their  habita- 
tions. A  journey  of  250  miles  over  a  month  and  a  half  gives 
them  about  40  pesos  in  return.  Corn  is  taken  in  exchange 
for  the  salt  as  a  rule.  They  have  to  pay  for  part  of  the  forage 
they  use  on  the  way  and  also  a  government  tax. 

In  their  travels  the  natives  of  Susques  do  not  enter  a  city. 
They  camp  in  abandoned  or  worthless  places  in  the  suburbs 
and  do  their  business  with  special  merchants  with  whom  they 
are  accustomed  to  deal.  The  capitdn  of  the  town  at  the  time 
of  Boman's  visit,  though  he  had  often  gone  to  the  little  tribu- 
tary towns  about  Salta,  had  never  visited  the  principal  plaza 
of  Salta,  had  not  seen  the  cathedral,  yet  had  for  the  bishop 
there  a  veneration  as  great  as  his  ancestors  probably  had 
for  the  Incas.  During  the  time  that  they  are  near  such  a 
town  they  never  speak  with  other  Indians  whom  they  meet. 

Conservative  Customs  and  Beliefs 

Children  are  taken  if  necessary  to  great  distances  to  be 
baptized  by  a  priest — some  even  to  San  Pedro  de  Atacama  on 
the  farther  side  of  the  cordillera;  others  are  baptized  by  the 
priest  who  annually  visits  Susques.  The  Indians  also  go  to 
San  Pedro  to  be  married.  A  local  Indian  reads  the  service 
in  the  church  of  Susques  without  understanding  a  word  of  it 
and  also  conducts  the  burial  service.  A  certain  number  of 
children  are  born  out  of  wedlock  and  have  no  hesitation  in 
mentioning  it  and  in  giving  the  name  of  the  father.  A 
great  many  of  the  women  have  children  by  different  fathers 
before  marriage,  and  the  number  of  children  increases  the 
marriageability  of  the  young  mother,  children  constituting  a 
sort  of  marriage  portion  since  each  one  of  them  is  capable  at 
the  age  of  seven  or  eight  years  of  caring  for  a  certain  number  of 
sheep  or  llamas.  Such  children  are  adopted  by  the  father  on 
marriage  and  are  considered  equals  of  the  legitimate  children 
born  later.   The  fortune  of  an  individual  depends  considerably 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  305 

on  the  numl)er  of  children  he  has,  for  this  determines  the  num- 
ber of  beasts  he  can  pasture.  While  loose  relations  are  tolerated 
within  the  tribe,  relations  between  a  woman  and  a  stranger, 
Indian  or  not,  are  immediately  punished  by  expulsion  from 
the  tribe.  Of  22  married  couples  in  Susques  only  two  had  no 
children  at  the  time  the  village  was  studied.  The  other 
twenty  had  seventy-nine  children,  forty- four  boys  and  thirty- 
five  girls.  In  spite  of  the  hard  conditions  of  life  at  Susques 
the  ancestral  character  is  strictly  maintained;  the  women  do 
not  marry  strangers,  and  the  people  never  abandon  their  arid 
lands  to  emigrate  to  more  desirable  regions. 

The  Indians  of  Susques  signal  each  other  at  night  by  lighting 
a  fire  upon  a  high  mountain  just  north  of  the  village;  in  the 
daytime  columns  of  smoke  serve  the  same  purpose.  A  certain 
number  of  fires  indicate  that  the  Indians  are  to  assemble  in 
the  village;  a  different  number  may  signify  "Danger;  hide 
yourself."  Ground  is  considered  as  common  property;  houses 
belong  to  the  individuals  that  construct  them.  If  a  stranger 
comes  he  is  refused  water,  fire,  and  food.  They  seek  in  this 
way  to  keep  out  of  their  country  those  who  would  take  away 
their  lands  and  make  conditions  of  life  difficult.  A  police 
agent  who  visited  Susques  was  given  two  or  three  sheep;  then 
the  Indians  disappeared  leaving  him  without  other  food  and 
without  forage  for  his  mules,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave. 

The  curious  mixture  of  Catholic  rites  and  pagan  beliefs  of 
which  we  have  spoken  in  the  case  of  Tarapaca  (p.  ']2)  is  also 
illustrated  here,  as  indeed  in  hundreds  of  places  throughout 
the  Central  Andes.  Questioned  about  an  apacheta,  an  Indian 
responded  that  it  was  dedicated  both  to  the  saints  and  to  the 
Inca  deity,  Pachamama.  The  principal  saints  are  those  that 
are  considered  patrons  of  beasts.  St.  John  is  the  patron  saint 
of  sheep  because  he  is  generally  depicted  accompanied  by  the 
figure  of  a  lamb;  then  follow  St.  Anthony,  patron  of  llamas; 
St.  Raymond,  patron  of  asses;  St.  Bartholomew,  patron  of 
goats.  Two  prayers  are  offered  by  spinners  of  wool,  the  first 
without  doubt  addressed  to  Pachamama  and  the  second  a  curi- 
ous mixture  of  appeals  to  Pachamama  and  Saint  Anne,  the 
Christian  patroness  of  spinning. 


3o6  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

On  traveling  in  the  Cordillera  there  are  invocations  to 
Pachamama  designed  to  avoid  fatigue  and  soroche,  or  mountain 
sickness.  To  propitiate  the  evil  spirits  of  the  cordillera  an 
offering  is  made  on  passing  or  stopping  at  an  apacheta,  or  a 
stone  is  carried  from  a  ravine  or  valley  and  placed  on  the 
apacheta  to  add  to  those  that  have  been  accumulated  in  like 
manner  through  the  centuries.  Christian  influence  is  seen 
in  the  crosses,  sometimes  twisted  about  with  red  wool  and 
planted  in  an  apacheta.  Special  care  Is  given  to  the  wool  used 
in  this  way.  A  translation  of  the  Quechua  formula  in  salutation 
to  an  apacheta  runs  as  follows:  "  Father  Apacheta,  receive  this, 
my  offering  of  colored  wool,  these  leaves  of  coca.  Deign  to 
help  me  in  all  my  labors!"  A  translation  of  the  prayer  for  re- 
assembling sheep  or  llamas  when  they  have  become  frightened 
and  have  dispersed  runs  substantially  as  follows:  "They  have 
disappeared.  Where  can  they  be  found?  Is  it  possible  that 
they  can  be  found?  Where  are  they?  Are  they  far?  When 
shall  I  be  able  to  overtake  my  sheep?  I  have  already  met  them. 
All  are  here.  A  lamb  is  missing.  A  fox  has  taken  it  from 
me."  There  are  Invocations  to  Pachamama  relating  to  the 
shearing  of  the  sheep;  a  prayer  that  they  may  breed  abun- 
dantly; another  with  reference  to  the  marking  of  sheep; 
and  a  ceremony  of  marriage  between  two  young  llamas,  a 
male  and  a  female,  attached  to  each  other,  the  whole  accom- 
panied by  suitable  Invocation. 

The  ancient  Peruvians  worshiped  as  divinities  and  as  oracles 
certain  high  mountains,  certain  sources  of  water,  certain  rocks, 
certain  trees.  All  these  are  called  huacas,  a  name  also  applied 
to  Idols  of  stone  or  of  wood  worshiped  as  divine  protectors  of 
a  tribe  or  of  a  province.  The  places  where  the  Idols  are  kept 
are  supposed  to  be  the  residences  of  the  divinities,  and  these 
are  also  called  huacas;  the  tombs  and  the  bodies  of  their 
ancestors  likewise.  The  Indians  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  still 
believe  in  huacas  in  the  first  sense  of  the  word,  that  is,  as  the 
supernatural  inhabitants  of  certain  localities.  They  relate 
that  one  such  huaca  is  in  Salinas  Grandes,  that  persons  have 
suddenly  died  on  seeing  it,  and  that  others  have  lost  their 
reason.    This  is  an  enormous  black  bull  with  eyes  of  fire. 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  307 

Another  one,  which  is  a  very  large  sheep,  neither  male  nor 
female,  is  in  the  Laguna  de  Pozuelos.  It  is  dazzling  white  in 
color,  leaves  the  lake  at  night,  rejoins  a  flock  of  sheep  of  the 
Indians,  and  disturbs  them.  Sometimes  the  Indians  try  to 
corral  the  flock  and  capture  the  huaca,  but  it  always  disap- 
pears. It  is  thought  that  this  is  a  good  sign,  as  it  will  eventu- 
ally increase  the  reproductive  powers  of  the  sheep.  On  the 
2nd  of  August  all  the  Indians  of  the  Puna  de  Jujuy  attach  to 
their  fingers,  particularly  the  small  finger,  a  twisted  thread 
designed  to  keep  them  from  sickness  and  harm  in  the  course 
of  the  year.  Others  attach  a  thread  to  their  legs  or  arms.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  feast  of  the  patron  saint  of  Susques  (Our 
Lady  of  Bethlehem)  the  images  of  the  saints  are  decorated 
and  borne  about  with  chants  and  ceremonies  of  the  Christian 
church  mixed  with  ancient  rites.  The  images,  preceded  by 
musicians  and  standards,  are  carried  at  first  to  the  four  small 
chapels  at  the  four  corners  of  the  court  of  the  church  and 
then  to  the  four  apachetas  located  on  the  heights  north,  south, 
east,  and  west  of  the  village,  after  which  they  are  carried 
back  to  the  church. 

The  Puna  de  Jujuy 

That  part  of  the  high  country  of  Argentina  between  22° 
and  24°  south  latitude  east  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  is  known 
as  the  Puna  de  Jujuy. ^i*'  It  has  pertained  to  Argentina  since 
the  Wars  of  Independence.  The  Indians  of  the  Puna  de 
Jujuy  number  12,000  and  live  in  an  area  of  27,500  square  kilo- 
meters. The  principal  villages  are:  Yavi  (494  inhabitants). 
La  Quiaca  (about  100),  Santa  Catalina  (179),  Rinconada 
(150),  Cochinoca  (117),  Casabindo  (85),  and  Abrapampa(?).ii^ 
They  resemble  the  Indians  of  Susques  but,  living  at  a  lower 
elevation,  have  more  resources:  beans,  potatoes,  alfalfa,  and 
fair  pasture  for  the  support  of  sheep  and  asses.  They  also 
have  easier  communication  with  Bolivia  and  the  lower  regions 

111=  On  the  map  Figure  87,  p.  259,  the  Puna  de  Jujuy  may  be  identified  as  that  part 
of  the  highland  lying  east  of  Susques  and  including  Salinas  Grandes. 

11'  Eric  Boman:  Antiquites  de  la  region  andine  de  la  Republique  Argentine  et  du 
Desert  d'Atacama,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1908;  reference  in  Vol.  2,  p.  470. 


3o8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  Jujuy.  Prospectors  come  more  frequently.  The  land  is 
divided  among  a  small  number  of  white  proprietors  almost  all 
of  whom  live  in  the  town  of  Jujuy.  Each  property  has  an 
enormous  extent  and  is  occupied  by  a  hundred  or  more  In- 
dians who  must  give  up  to  the  proprietor  the  greater  part  of 
the  production  of  their  small  troops  and,  in  addition,  give  per- 
sonal service  when  it  is  required.  The  greater  part  of  the 
owners  never  visit  their  land  in  the  Puna  but  are  content  from 
time  to  time  to  send  an  agent  to  settle  problems  among  the 
Indians  and  return  with  supplies.  The  relation  of  the  Indians 
to  their  masters  is  much  like  that  which  obtained  under  the 
system  of  Spanish  encomiendas. 

The  Indians  here  are  shy,  reserved,  and  timid,  tending  to 
abandon  their  huts  on  the  approach  of  a  stranger — probably  a 
response  to  the  fact  that  they  have  been  pillaged  by  bandits, 
which  formerly  overran  the  Puna  de  Jujuy,  and  to  the  excesses 
of  certain  civil  and  military  authorities.  They  are  not  able  to 
assimilate  European  civilization  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
some  of  them  are  workmen  in  the  mines  and  the  borax  es- 
tablishments (since  only  they  can  stand  the  rare  air  and  the 
cold).  As  a  whole  they  have  no  capacity  to  mingle  with  others 
or  to  improve  themselves,  even  though  occasionally  one  of 
them  rises  to  a  position  of  responsibility  and  confidence  and 
establishes  strong  relations  with  the  whites. 

While  the  economic  and  social  condition  of  the  Indians  of 
the  Puna  de  Atacama  is  substantially  the  same  as  at  the  time 
of  the  Conquest,  there  have  been  certain  ameliorations.  The 
most  important  one  was  brought  about  by  the  introduction 
of  sheep.  Formerly  the  population  was  dependent  entirely  upon 
the  domesticated  llama.  The  pasture  grounds  are  too  dry  for 
alpaca,  and  the  forage  is  less  suitable  for  the  alpaca  than  the 
short,  thick  mat  of  green  grass  growing  in  moister  situations 
under  the  snow  line  of  the  loftier  districts  of  Bolivia  and  Peru. 
Undoubtedly  some  wool  was  obtained,  then  as  now,  from  the 
pelts  of  the  vicuna  and  guanaco.  But  it  was  certainly  an  impor- 
tant addition  to  the  economy  of  the  Indian  to  have  the  domes- 
ticated sheep.  The  wool  supply  is  more  dependable  and  can 
be  sold  after  shearing,  and  the  skins  of  the  slaughtered  ani- 


PUNA  SETTLEMENTS  309 

mals  also  have  a  market  value.  There  Is  greater  certainty  in 
breeding,  and  there  is  established  a  better  medium  of  exchange 
with  the  towns.  The  frequent  intertribal  wars  of  the  border 
region  of  the  Puna  have  given  way  to  a  state  of  settled  life 
and  security.  The  trails  are  safe,  and  the  needs  of  the  towns 
absorb  the  output  of  the  plateau  Indian.  Yet  in  spite  of 
these  things  the  old  forms  of  life  persist.  The  old  types  of 
architecture,  the  search  for  mountain  pastures,  the  coming 
and  going  of  flocks  and  traders — these  things  continue  almost 
unchanged  from  the  conditions  of  two  hundred  years  ago. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
HABITABILITY  OF  THE  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST 

In  view  of  the  notable  civilization  developed  at  the  older 
cultural  sites  in  the  Central  Andes,  not  only  at  Cuzco  and 
Tiahuanaco,  but  in  many  other  places  on  a  lesser  scale,  it  is 
natural  to  think  of  human  life  as  going  back  so  far  there  that  it 
may  have  been  affected  by  the  uplift  of  the  mountains.  We 
know  the  mountains  to  be  young.  They  have  attained  their 
present  great  height  since  the  Pliocene  (p.  254).  In  the  great 
period  of  Andean  uplift  in  South  America  man  is  known  to 
have  inhabited  North  America.  If  he  also  then  inhabited 
the  southern  continent  he  would  have  felt  at  least  the  latest 
climatic  effects  of  the  uplift. 

Shifting  Climatic  Belts  on  the  Mountain  Border 

Sites  of  settlement  that  were  once  at  a  lower  altitude  and 
therefore  warm  enough  to  be  cultivated  might  now  be  so  cold 
as  to  support  only  grass  for  grazing  animals.  A  little  change 
might  conceivably  have  far-reaching  influence  upon  popula- 
tion. Sir  Clements  Markham^^^  once  speculated  upon  such  a 
possibility.  An  elevation  of  500  feet  would  have  a  pronounced 
effect  upon  human  distributions  at  the  upper  limit  of  settle- 
ment. In  the  Puna  de  Atacama  the  belt  of  pasture  would  be 
shifted  upon  the  mountain  slopes.  The  volume  of  springs  and 
the  discharge  of  streams  would  be  changed  from  place  to  place. 
There  would  be  a  shifting  of  the  edges  of  the  belt  of  woodland 
shown  in  Figure  86.  The  upper  limit  of  the  growth  of  cereals 
and  vegetables  would  be  pushed  down  the  mountain  side  to 
an  extent  roughly  corresponding  to  the  uplift.  How  delicately 
these  products  are  now  balanced  on  basin  floors  and  mountain 
sides  may  be  seen  at  Lake  Titicaca.  Corn  is  grown  only  at 
the  lake  border.  Barley  ripens  on  the  surrounding  slopes  if 
the  elevation  does  not  exceed  one  thousand  feet  above  the 

"8  Clements  Markham:  The  Incas  of  Peru,  New  York,  1910,  pp.  37-38. 

310 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST  311 

lake.    Only  near  the  lake  in  little  hollows  along  the  shore  can 
strawberries,  lettuce,  and  other  vegetables  be  grown. 

An  accurate  survey  of  the  shore  lines  of  the  lakes  that  spread 
their  waters  over  the  depression  of  the  plateau  country  of  the 
Central  Andes  would  be  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  the 
question  of  uplift  in  its  effect  upon  man.  The  shore  lines 
about  many  of  the  lake  basins  are  still  quite  fresh  and  may 
be  seen  even  from  points  many  miles  away  as  a  thin  white  or 
light  yellow  line  rounding  the  promontories  and  running  up 
hollows  and  ravines.  There  has  been  no  major  modification 
of  the  landscape  since  the  basins  were  filled  with  water.  Ac- 
curate mapping  of  the  shore  lines  would  tell  us  whether  they 
stand  level  today  as  they  must  have  done  at  the  time  of  their 
development.  If  such  mapping  should  show  that  broad  re- 
gional tilting  occurred,  that  the  landscape  has  been  deformed 
since  the  lakes  have  disappeared,  it  would  throw  at  least  a 
part  of  the  period  of  deformation  and  uplift  of  the  mountain 
belt  into  the  period  since  the  great  Ice  Age  and  increase  the 
probability  that  the  last  of  the  great  changes  of  climate  and 
elevation  in  the  Central  Andes  occurred  during  the  period  of 
human  occupation. 

The  Pucara  of  Andalgala 

We  turn  to  some  specific  illustrations  of  the  manner  in 
which  slight  changes  of  climate  may  affect  human  occupation, 
whether  such  changes  are  brought  about  by  uplift  of  the  earth's 
crust  or  by  other  and  more  general  causes  affecting  the  whole 
world.  Gunardo  Lange,  in  the  publications  of  the  Museum  of 
La  Plata  11^  has  described  the  ruins  of  a  hill  bordered  by  steep 
slopes,  the  long  axis  of  the  hill  running  from  south  to  north. 
There  is  a  principal  fort  on  the  broadest  part  of  the  summit 
and  an  advanced  fort  farther  north  on  the  highest  point  of  the 
hill  (Fig.  114).  The  material  of  the  fortification  consists  of 
stone  without  mortar.    The  walls  have  an  exterior  height  of 

"9  Gunardo  Lange:  Las  ruinas  de  la  fortaleza  del  Pucara,  Attales  del  Museo  de  La 
Plata,  Seccion  de  Arqueologia,  111,  La  Plata,  1892.  See  also  Carlos  Bruch:  Exploraciones 
Arqueologicas  en  las  provincias  de  Tucuman  y  Catamarca,  Lfniv.  Nacional  de  La  Plata, 
Biblioteca  centenaria.  Vol.  5,  1911. 


312  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

about  three  meters  and  are  provided  with  portholes  for  a  lower 
line  of  defenders  and  a  bench  half  a  meter  broad  for  an  upper 
line  of  defenders. 

Although  there  is  no  available  water  at  the  summit  of  the 
hill  at  the  present  time,  there  is  a  small  water  supply  just  below 
the  summit  on  the  western  side  of  the  Aguada  de  Chilcas;  and 
Lange  supposes  that  this  source  of  water  supply,  now  140 
meters  outside  the  wall  of  defense  crossing  the  ravine  in  which 
the  water  occurs,  was  within  the  wall  at  the  time  the  fort  was 
in  active  use;  that  is  to  say  that  the  rainfall  was  greater  and 
that  the  stream  issued  at  a  higher  point  in  the  ravine.  He 
tentatively  concludes  that  the  fort  has  an  extension  so  great 
that  it  could  not  be  manned  effectively  by  less  than  7500 
warriors.  Assuming  one  warrior  to  each  four  persons,  he 
further  supposes  that  there  must  have  been  30,000  souls,  all 
told,  living  within  the  fort  or  closely  associated  with  it  in  time 
of  extreme  danger  or  warfare.  He  does  not  believe  that  the 
fort  was  built  by  ancestors  of  the  present  Indian  inhabitants 
whom  the  Spanish  conquered  but  by  people  more  civilized 
who  lived  in  earlier  times,  and  he  assumes  that  period  to  have 
been  more  than  four  hundred  years  ago.  The  present  inhabi- 
tants are  pastoral  people,  herding  flocks  of  sheep  and  hunting 
the  guanaco  and  vicuiia.  They  occupy  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  Province  of  Catamarca,  use  an  original  idiom,  live  in  the 
most  primitive  condition  in  round  stone  huts,  often  without 
a  roof,  and  employ  utensils  that  appear  to  be  completely  de- 
void of  all  ornamental  work.  Even  allowing  for  the  effects  of 
the  Spanish  Conquest  he  can  hardly  see  how  so  primitive  a 
people  could  be  the  descendants  of  the  illustrious  folk  that 
constructed  the  great  fortress  of  Pucara.  The  case  of  the 
Aguada  de  Chilcas  at  Pucara  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  in 
the  history  of  past  settlements  and  in  the  development  of 
settlements  in  the  future.  These  examples  show  how  small  a 
change  in  water  supply  or  climate  may  produce  a  recognizable 
and  even  important  change  in  the  economic  relations  of  a 
people.  Lange  wrote  in  1892,  before  the  climatic  studies  of  the 
present  period  had  been  inaugurated,  and  he  puts  forward  his 
explanation  modestly,  leaving  the  final  solution  to  others. 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST 


313 


-^^5S^^J?-- 


Fig.  114 — General  plan  of  the  fortress  of  Pucara.  The  Aguada  de  Chilcas 
(p.  312)  is  in  the  left  center.  From  Gunardo  Lange:  Las  ruinas  de  la  fortaleza  de 
Pucara,  in  Anales  del  Museo  de  la  Plata,  1892.  Scale  approximately  1:11,000, 
reduced  from  i  :8ooo. 


314  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

Such  a  change  in  the  position  of  the  water  supply  of  a  ravine 
as  Lange  supposes  in  explanation  of  the  habitability  of  El 
Pucara,  is  exactly  illustrated  in  the  basin  of  Fiambala,  200 
miles  west  of  this  site.  Penck  has  made  important  studies  on 
the  climate  and  relief  of  Fiambala.  He  finds  that  the  south- 
ward-flowing Rio  Lajas^^o  at  one  time  reached  the  town  of 
Tinogasta  (Fig.  i),  whereas  it  now  ends  5  kilometers  (3  miles) 
farther  north,  where  cultivated  lands  and  a  prosperous  settle- 
ment were  developed  and  were  occupied  until  recent  times, 
when  the  river  ceased  to  flow  beyond  a  point  still  farther  north, 
leaving  the  cultivated  lands  desolate  and  the  old  settlements 
occupied  only  by  shepherds  that  now  camp  there  and  get 
water  by  digging  down  two  or  three  meters  to  the  underflow. 

The  case  of  the  Rio  Lajas  is  an  illustration  of  the  same 
principle  invoked  by  Lange.  Penck  further  describes  a  highly 
important  contrast  in  the  positions  of  zones  of  moisture  in  the 
basin  of  Fiambala  in  northwestern  Argentina  (Fig.  87).  Sum- 
mer pasture  grows  in  a  belt  of  mountain  slope  above  3500 
meters,  and  there  those  Indians  who  follow  the  chase  go  in 
search  of  guanaco  and  vicuiia.  There  are  fresh  green  grass, 
springs,  and  brooks  in  every  valley,  in  contrast  to  the  great 
dryness  of  the  basin,  or  bolson,  of  Fiambala,  where  cactus 
and  scrub  predominate.  The  valleys  are  dry;  and  also  In 
contrast  to  the  relatively  wet  zone  on  the  mountains  is  the 
dry  and  melancholy  puna  above  the  zone  of  grass  in  the  alpine 
region.  Such  a  zone  of  pasture  and  water  supply  is  dependent 
upon  the  presence  of  a  zone  of  cloud  that  forms  in  the  high 
mountains  and  whose  position  is  determined  by  the  combina- 
tion of  relief  and  winds  already  described  (p.  273).  If  such  a 
cloud  zone  were  lowered  or  raised  there  would  follow  a  cor- 
responding depression  or  elevation  of  the  belt  of  pastures  and 
woodland.  Were  there  to  be  developed  at  any  period  a  string 
of  settlements,  a  civilization,  buildings,  cultivated  lands,  these 
would  perforce  change  their  situation  to  correspond  with  the 
change  in  rainfall  and  available  water  supply. 

Whether  such  changes  have  been  brought  about  in  the  period 
of  Indian  occupation,  no  one  can  yet  say,  but  it  cannot  be  too 

12°  Walther  Penck:  Der  Siidrand  der  Puna  de  Atacama,  Leipzig,  1920,  p.  38. 


•Mi 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THK  PAST  315 

strongly  emphasized  that  the  sHght  changes  in  cHmate  and 
water  supply  that  we  have  noted  have  produced  such  im- 
portant and  clearly  defined  effects  that  the  greater  changes 
must  have  produced  still  greater  effects.  If  such  effects  were 
felt  during  the  period  of  human  occupation  they  would  form 
the  objects  of  one  of  the  most  important  studies  of  climate  and 
relief  and  vegetation  on  the  one  hand  and  of  man  on  the  other 
that  the  continent  of  South  America  affords  today.  The  region 
is  ideally  situated  for  producing  such  effects  and  for  making 
the  studies  just  described.  In  contrast  with  the  climatic  belts 
farther  north,  which  are  more  sharply  defined  upon  the  borders 
of  the  mountains  and  which  have  a  relatively  fixed  quality, 
the  climatic  zones  of  the  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  have 
a  wider  range  of  action.  The  seasonal  extremes  are  much 
farther  apart  here  than  farther  north  toward  lower  latitudes, 
and  the  seasonal  rainfall  is  a  much  more  clearly  marked  thing 
than  in  the  rest  of  the  Central  Andes  northward  to  central 
Peru.  Any  disturbance  in  the  level  of  the  climatic  zones,  in 
short  any  change  in  climate,  would  be  felt  over  a  wider  extent 
of  country,  over  a  greater  expanse  of  mountain  slope,  through 
a  wider  range  of  altitudes. 

Glacial  and  Postglacial  Changes  of  Climate 

Such  climatic  changes  as  we  have  described  must  not  be 
thought  of  as  purely  speculative  guesses.  Everywhere  through- 
out the  Central  Andes  are  the  marks  of  past  glaciation  which 
represents  a  major  climatic  change  of  the  general  type  that 
preceded  and  followed  the  Ice  Age  itself.  In  191 1  I  discovered 
that  glaciers  of  great  length  had  come  down  through  all  the 
valleys  of  the  high  Cordillera  Vilcapampa.  One  of  them  was 
at  least  fifteen  miles  long.  These  were  the  ancestors  of  gla- 
ciers that  now  inhabit  only  the  heads  of  the  valleys,  where 
they  are  nourished  by  a  permanent  glacial  cap  of  amazing 
extent  and  climatic  significance  in  latitude  12°  S.,  almost 
overlooking  the  border  of  the  Amazonian  plains.  I  have 
estimated  the  height  of  the  snow  line  of  the  glacial  period  to 
have  been  2000  feet  lower  than  the  snow  line  of  today.  The 
relationships  of  the  upper  and  lower  limits  of  the  zone  of 


3i6 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


maximum  precipitation  on  the  mountain  slopes  in  the  glacial 
period  are  illustrated  in  the  diagram,  Figure  115.  Penck  has 
made  similar  studies  at  the  southern  end  of  the  Puna,  where 
he  finds  a  zone  of  maximum  precipitation  whose  upper  limit 
at  the  present  time  is  4000  meters  and  whose  lower  limit  is 
about  3000  meters.  Within  the  upper  limit  is  snowfall  in  the 
winter  season  and  occasionally  at  other  times  of  the  year. 
From  the  evidence  of  the  carved  valley  walls  and  flat  floors 


Fig.  115 — A  represents  the  upper  and  lower  limits  of  the  zone  of  maximum  pre- 
cipitation at  the  present  time;  B,  the  limits  of  Pleistocene  time.  I,  II,  and  III  are 
mountains  of  different  height  and  relationship  to  these  two  positions  of  the  rainfall 
belt. 

Penck  concludes  that  the  present  snow  line  is  600  or  800  meters, 
that  is  to  say  2000  or  3000  feet,  above  the  snow  line  of  the 
glacial  period. ^^^  There  is  snow  at  5300  meters  on  Aconquija; 
on  Tres  Cruces  in  the  same  latitude  (27°  S.)  in  the  Western 
Cordillera  the  lower  limit  of  permanent  snow  is  at  6300  meters, 
or  a  range  of  17,000  to  21,000  feet.  In  southern  Peru  I  found 
the  snow  line  between  16,000  and  18,000  feet  with  local  varia- 
tions dependent  upon  topographic  conditions.  Where  the 
glaciers  of  the  present  time  do  not  descend  below  14,000  feet, 
I  found  them  to  have  descended  to  11,000  feet  in  the  Ice  Age. 
I  concluded  that  the  snow  line  of  the  glacial  period  was  1000 
meters,  or  over  3000  feet,  lower  than  now. 

The  effect  of  this  great  change  in  climate  in  the  glacial 
period  must  have  been  clearly  felt  upon  the  well-defined 
zones  of  pasture  and  of  woodland  or  forest  on  the  border  of 
the  mountains.  This  is  particularly  true  in  northwestern 
Argentina,  where  the  belt  of  woodland  is  so  narrow  and  patchy 
that  any  increase  of  rainfall  through  the  lowering  or  raising 

121  Penck,  op.  cit.,  pp.  251  et  al. 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST  317 

of  a  zone  of  heavier  precipitation  must  have  had  the  effect  of 
joining  up  isolated  patches  of  woodland  and  making  con- 
tinuous forest  out  of  them;  or  where  a  diminution  of  rain- 
fall would  have  the  effect  of  making  the  forest  growth  still 
more  patchy  or  causing  it  almost  to  disappear  for  a  time. 
The  effect  upon  the  grasses  of  the  belt  of  pastures  must  be 
similar.  There  must  have  been  a  thinning  out  of  pastures 
at  the  upper  limit  of  the  zone  of  pasture  as  we  see  it  today 
and  an  extension  of  the  pastures  at  the  lower  limit  of  the 
zone.  The  increasing  cold  of  the  glacial  period  had  the  effect 
of  lowering  the  snow  line  and  the  successive  climatic  zones 
along  with  it.  The  belt  of  pastures  must  have  been  brought 
down  to  the  summits  of  mountains  that  now  have  no  pastures 
at  all  of  the  sort  that  prevail  in  the  belt  of  high  mountain 
country  of  which  we  speak.  Again,  there  must  have  been 
mountains  whose  summits  were  covered  with  pastures  before 
the  glacial  period  and  at  the  present  time  and  that  were  free 
from  pastures  during  the  glacial  period.  These  circumstances 
are  suggested  in  Figure  115,  the  upper  and  lower  levels  of 
the  zone  of  pasture  being  in  critical  relation  to  mountains 
or  mountain  ranges,  as  we  may  suppose  them  to  be,  of  three 
different  heights.  In  addition  to  the  mountain  pastures  there 
would  be,  of  course,  a  wide  deployment  of  the  plains  pastures 
to  correspond  with  the  wetter  climate.  In  addition  to  the 
raising  and  lowering  of  the  zones  of  grass  and  woodland  upon 
the  mountain  flanks,  there  would  be  an  absolute  increase  in 
grass  and  woodland  on  account  of  this  heavier  precipitation. 
The  climate  of  the  glacial  period  was  clearly  one  characterized 
by  more  moisture.  The  ground  water  and  the  level  of  lakes 
and  streams  would  surely  feel  the  effect  of  such  an  increase 
in  available  moisture. 

Vegetational  Changes  as  an  Index 

No  one  has  yet  applied  to  northwestern  Argentina  the 
results  of  field  investigations  like  those  made  by  Clements  in 
our  Southwest. '^^    From  a  comparative  study  of  vegetation 

122  F.  E.  Clements:  The  Original  Grassland  of  Mohave  and  Colorado  Deserts,  Re- 
port on  Investigations  in  Ecology,  Year  Book  Carnegie  Instn.  No.  21  for  IQ22,  pp. 
350-351- 


3i8  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

in  California  and  Arizona  he  finds  that  the  grasslands  must 
once  have  been  continuous  across  the  Mohave  and  Colorado 
deserts  when  they  had  an  annual  rainfall  of  about  ten  inches 
in  contrast  to  a  rainfall  of  but  two  inches  a  year,  as  on  the 
floor  of  the  Mohave  desert  today,  or  an  amount  so  small  as 
to  be  incapable  of  supporting  even  the  most  xerophytic  of 
the  grasses.  He  concludes  that  the  region  has  passed  from  a 
condition  of  mixed  prairie  at  the  close  of  the  Pleistocene  or 
Glacial  Period  to  the  desert  conditions  of  the  present  under 
the  pressure  of  shifting  climate.  The  effect  of  having  the 
grassland  of  California  in  contact  with  the  mixed  prairie  and 
the  losing  of  that  contact,  would  be  the  development  of  relict 
groups  of  grassland  in  favorable  situations  though  now  far 
removed  from  similar  tracts  with  which  they  once  enjoyed 
contact.  Our  whole  thought  of  these  outliers  has  been  that 
they  represented  a  sort  of  advance  guard,  an  invasion  of  the 
drier  area,  whereas  the  more  closely  analytical  field  studies 
have  shown  that  they  are  remnants  of  a  once  more  extensive 
grass  cover.  Migration  without  the  agency  of  man  or  water 
is  practically  always  local,  and  the  wide  distribution  of  these 
forms  of  grasses  and  shrubs  requires,  as  a  prerequisite,  a 
natural  disturbance  or  broad  climatic  change. 

Were  such  studies  of  grassland  and  woodland  to  be  carried 
out  in  northwestern  Argentina,  there  would  be  offered  a 
chance  to  apply  the  results  to  the  sites  of  former  habitations 
in  the  valleys  that  border  the  Puna  de  Atacama.  It  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  an  exact  relationship  can  be  established,  for 
the  type  of  culture  with  which  we  are  dealing  was  not  suf- 
ficiently far  advanced  to  permit  the  drawing  of  definite  con- 
clusions regarding  the  time  of  its  existence.  The  point  of 
chief  interest  would  be  to  discover  if  the  sites  selected  for 
habitations  were  now  uninhabitable  in  fact  and  not  merely 
inconvenient  or  difficult  to  inhabit.  That  would  be  the  first 
point.  In  the  second  place  one  should  set  out  to  discover  if 
possible  what  changes  in  the  water  supply  and  in  the  zones 
of  vegetation  would  be  required  to  make  the  sites  of  former 
settlement  habitable  wherever  these  occur  about  the  borders 
of  the  mountain  country.    If  carried  out  on  broad  lines  over 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST  319 

a  wide  extent  of  country,  such  a  study  would  yield  results  of 
first  importance  both  to  archeology  and  to  geography,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  value  to  the  life  of  the  present  population  or  in 
the  development  of  the  soil  and  water  supply  for  the  greater 
benefit  of  future  population.  Were  the  times  and  seasons 
better  known  and  the  value  of  grassland  and  woodland  really 
recognized,  the  life  of  the  region  could  certainly  be  better 
adapted  to  natural  conditions.  There  is  now  only  a  primitive 
relation  of  culture  on  the  one  hand  to  geographical  conditions 
on  the  other.  The  rainfall  and  run-off  of  years  of  heavy  pre- 
cipitation are  allowed  to  waste  themselves  in  gravelly  pied- 
mont slopes  and  to  work  destruction  upon  the  cultivated 
valley  lands.  The  pastures  are  overgrazed  in  one  part  and 
untouched  in  another.  The  waste  that  has  marked  the  use  of 
water  from  colonial  times  still  exists. 

Former  Distribution  of  Algarrobo  Forests 

It  has  been  argued  that  certain  old  maps  furnish  evidence 
of  past  changes  of  climate,  notably  in  the  case  of  the  buried 
algarrobo  forests  now  exhumed  in  the  Desert  of  Tarapaca 
(see  p.  16).  Such  an  argument  must  be  taken  with  great  reserve. 
There  are  two  principal  reasons  against  it.  (i)  Contemporary 
evidence  of  actual  forests  and  a  proved  knowledge  of  their  extent 
have  yet  to  be  brought  forward — the  distributions  shown  on 
old  maps  are  altogether  conjectural  and  unsupported.  (2)  It 
is  the  habit  of  piedmont  streams  like  those  that  descend  to  the 
border  of  the  desert  of  Tarapaca  in  northern  Chile  (whence 
the  evidence  has  come)  to  shift  their  courses  from  side  to  side ; 
and  thus  a  growth  of  algarrobo  along  a  given  stream  channel 
may  be  abandoned  and  left  to  wither  and  disappear  when  the 
next  flood  comes  down  and  opens  a  new  channel  far  to  one 
side.  Rainfall  so  great  as  to  support  a  general  cover  of  algar- 
robo forest  clearly  implies  a  flooding  of  the  salt-covered  basin 
floors  of  the  nitrate  desert,  the  dissolving  of  the  salt  deposit 
itself  and  overflow  to  the  sea  at  the  lowest  places  along  the 
Coast  Range.  A  larger  number  of  woodland  patches  might 
occur  if  the  rainfall  were  increased  in  the  mountains  alone  and 


320  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

not  at  all  or  but  very  little  In  the  desert,  by  the  process  of  sub- 
irrigation.  There  are  today  healthy  stands  of  scrub  along 
abandoned  watercourses  and  even  in  the  open  piedmont  where 
the  distance  to  ground  water  is  only  a  few  feet.  A  further 
slight  shift  or  a  local  diminution  of  the  drainage  discharge  (not 
a  diminished  rainfall)  would  end  in  the  destruction  of  the 
growths  at  these  precarious  sites.  Later  floods  would  then 
bury  the  stumps  and  fallen  trunks,  and  we  should  have  the 
appearance  of  a  forest  lost  through  climatic  change.  It  is  not 
enough  to  say  that  a  diminished  rainfall  would  produce  like 
effects.  The  natural  processes  operating  on  a  desert  pied- 
mont are  quite  sufficient  to  produce  the  visible  efTects.  A 
new  cause  need  not  be  sought,  and  if  it  is  adopted  it  can  only 
be  when  contemporary  evidence  of  actual  forests  of  larger  size 
than  the  local  stands  of  today  and  of  reasonably  well  known 
extent,  not  merely  buried  fragments,  are  found.  The  general 
theory  of  climatic  change  is  invitingly  simple  and  spectacular. 
I  believe  that  such  a  change  must  have  occurred  in  the  Puna 
de  Atacama  and  about  its  borders.  But  whether  the  amount 
of  change  was  sufficiently  great  in  the  human  period  to  be 
determinable  today  from  the  scant  evidences  left  behind  by 
earlier  folk  is  a  question  that  can  be  settled  only  by  further 
studies  in  the  field. 

Other  Ancient  Habitations  of  the  Puna 

Returning  to  the  Puna  region,  it  has  been  argued  ^-^  that  the 
site  of  the  famous  ruin  called  the  Pucara  of  Rinconada,  about 
12  miles  south  of  the  village  of  Rinconada  (Fig,  87),  was 
occupied  by  a  compact  settlement  at  a  time  of  heavier  rainfall, 
sufficient  to  water  the  andenes,  or  cultivated  terraces,  for  these 
are  so  situated  as  to  be  incapable  of  irrigation  today.  The 
fields  and  the  villages  were  often  far  apart,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  pueblos  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  The  cultural  ele- 
ments, which  include  a  remarkable  colored  fresco,  besides 
grinding  stones,  hatchets,  pottery,  arrowheads,  and  the  like, 
are  of  a  type  denoting  a  substantial  settlement,  while  some 

123  Eric  Boman:  Antiquites  de  la  region  andine  de  la  Republique  Argentine  et  du 
Desert  d'Atacama,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1908;  reference  in  Vol.  2,  pp.  632  et  seq. 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST  321 

of  the  stone  work  is  distinctive.  However,  to  reach  the  con- 
clusion that  the  cHmate  has  changed  it  is  necessary  to  deter- 
mine by  accurate  means  the  actual  water  resources  today,  and 
this  has  not  yet  been  done. 

More  circumstantial  is  the  argument  in  favor  of  a  change 
of  rainfall  in  the  case  of  the  Arroyo  de  Sayate  in  the  Puna 
de  Jujuy.^2*  The  andenes  here  appear  to  be  arranged  in  a 
manner  to  facilitate  irrigation  by  canals  supplied  by  the 
Sayate,  but  no  trace  of  a  feeding  canal  has  been  found, 
and  it  is  believed  that  a  canal  was  never  employed.  Yet  the 
rainfall  today  is  not  sufficient  to  permit  culture  without  arti- 
ficial irrigation.  Watering  by  hand  does  not  seem  possible,  for 
it  would  require  a  population  much  larger  than  could  be  con- 
tained in  the  little  ravine  in  prehistoric  times  or  than  is  indi- 
cated by  the  number  of  skeletons  in  the  graves.  The  traces 
of  water  conduits  encountered  on  the  terraces  of  Sayate  are 
interpreted  as  indicating  the  practical  beginnings  of  a  system 
of  conserving  the  natural  rainfall  from  terrace  to  terrace  with- 
out permitting  it  to  run  off  violently  as  it  would  do  if  left  to 
take  its  natural  course  to  the  floor  of  the  ravine. 

On  the  other  hand,  cultivation,  plus  the  greater  water- 
holding  capacity  of  the  flat  and  walled  terraces,  is  enough  to 
account  for  the  conditions  described  without  invoking  a 
change  of  climate.  From  the  large  number  of  remains  of 
maize  In  the  graves  of  Sayate  it  is  concluded  that  maize  was 
the  principal  food  of  the  valley  and  that  without  doubt  it  was 
the  principal  plant  cultivated  on  the  terraces,  for  to  find  its 
remains  in  such  great  abundance  would  seem  to  argue  against 
its  being  carried  by  the  pre-Spanish  Indians  from  the  lower 
ground  in  the  valleys  of  Salta  and  of  Jujuy  or  from  the  Desert 
of  Atacama.  The  other  food  plants  that  were  grown  In  the 
Puna  in  pre-Hispanic  times,  namely,  potatoes,  coca,  quinoa,  and 
the  like,  had  a  secondary  importance,  and  their  cultivation  was 
carried  on  without  andenes.  Periods  of  rest  of  three,  four,  five, 
or  even  seven  years  between  periods  of  culture,  which  in  turn 
endure  for  three  or  four  years  at  a  time,  are  known  to  every 
student  of  Central  Andean  culture ;  and  this  may  well  account 

124  Ibid.,  Vol.  2,  pp.  602  et  seq. 


322  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

for  the  large  number  of  andenes  throughout  the  region  without 
the  supposition  that  the  population  was  at  one  time  vastly 
greater. 

Even  if  corn  were  once  used  in  great  quantities  in  the  Sayate 
valley  it  may  have  been  imported  from  lower  lands.  As  for  the 
assumption  that  the  andenes  were  constructed  for  corn  because 
the  other  products  do  not  require  terraces,  this  quite  over- 
looks the  fact  that  barley  is  grown  today  where  it  does  not 
ripen — and  corn  too  for  that  matter — and  they  are  cut  green  for 
forage,  the  seed  being  brought  in  from  warmer  valleys  year  by 
year.  Green  barley  is  grown  in  this  manner  either  on  andenes 
or  open  natural  slopes  through  the  higher  valleys  of  almost  the 
whole  Central-Andean  realm. 

Andenes  as  an  Evidence  of  Former  Occupation 
The  andenes  of  the  Andean  region  in  general  have  given 
rise  to  a  great  deal  of  speculation  as  to  possible  change  of 
climate.  In  some  places  one  may  see  thirty  to  forty  terraces 
one  above  another  on  the  longer  valley  slopes,  the  lower  ten  or 
twelve  clearly  defined,  the  rest  fading  off  to  narrow  bands 
clearly  visible  only  when  the  light  strikes  at  the  precise  angle  to 
bring  out  their  delicate  relief.  Slopes  looo  to  I2C0  feet  high  may 
be  seen  covered  with  these  terraces  and  now  wholly  abandoned. 
The  people  of  Spanish  descent  refer  to  the  andenes  as  having 
been  built  by  "los  Gentilares,"  or  Gentiles,  as  they  designate 
the  heathen  Indians  who  lived  before  the  period  of  the  "Chris- 
tian" Conquest.  Naturally  so  great  a  development  of  the 
andenes  suggests  a  more  numerous  population.  If  the  few 
people  now  living  in  many  a  valley  were  to  set  about  making 
terraces  as  extensive  as  those  lying  about  them,  the}^  could  not 
do  it  in  a  lifetime. 

An  excellent  example  of  andenes  is  seen  in  the  Cayrani  valley 
west  of  Lake  Titicaca.  They  are  not  level  but  slope  down- 
hill at  gentle  gradients.  Some  are  supported  by  earthen 
embankments,  and  others  by  natural  outcrops  of  rock  or  of 
loose  stone.  There  is  no  finished  stonework  in  evidence.  It 
is  not  possible  to  see  whether  old  canals  for  irrigating  the 
terraces  once  existed.   I  could  find  no  evidence  of  them  leading 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST 


323 


from  the  river,  but  a  closer  examination  might  reveal  signs  of 
them.  Clearly  the  terracing  was  not  done  for  the  purpose  of 
irrigation,  for  the  terraces  run  up  to  the  hilltops,  where  water 
could  not  be  carried  by  gravity,  and  they  are  to  be  found  also 
on  either  side  of  sharp  and  deep  ravines  or  high  ridges  of  harder 
rock. 


Fig.  116 — ^Terraced  valley  slopes  In  the  mountain  belt  west  of  Lake  Titicaca. 


The  evidences  of  past  Indian  occupation  of  the  andenes  seems 
all  the  more  significant  because  of  the  established  life  to  which 
the  cultural  facts  point.  In  some  terraces  and  burial  sites, 
as,  for  example,  the  cemetery  on  the  main  trail  to  Finca  Cay- 
rani,  are  fragments  of  worked  stone.  Slabs  of  stone  were 
laid  across  uprights,  and  in  them  are  large  earthen  jars  with 
remains  of  human  skeletons  barely  covered  with  earth. 
In  several  of  the  jars  I  found  charred  cobs  without  corn  upon 
them,  as  if  the  corn  had  been  roasted  and  eaten  off.  Little 
digging  has  been  done  in  the  neighborhood;  it  is  almost  un- 
worked  territory.  We  can  be  certain  that  a  larger  population 
than  now  lives  in  this  particular  valley  once  occupied  the  soil, 


324  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

but  probably  no  more  than  could  live  comfortably  if  the 
pastoral  resources  were  used  to  the  fullest  extent. 


Effect  of  the  Spanish  Conquest  on 
Population  Distribution 

There  may  have  been  a  slight  change  of  climate  in  the  past 
few  hundred  years  or  more  that  led  to  the  abandoning  of  the 
terraces  in  the  poorer  locations;  but,  as  a  whole,  this  cause  has 
so  far  not  been  separable  from  a  much  more  important  one  of 
human  origin.  In  earlier  times,  when  the  social  structure  and 
business  organization  of  the  Indians  was  in  a  primitive  state, 
undisturbed  by  the  modern  towns  and  industries  of  the  Span- 
iard and  other  foreigners,  each  region  had  to  produce  much  the 
greater  part  of  the  food  and  clothing  it  required.  The  history 
of  the  organization  of  the  Inca  Empire  shows  a  certain  degree 
of  communication  from  place  to  place,  but  the  means  of  trafiic 
were  so  limited  that  this  could  hardly  have  had  a  thorough- 
going and  intimate  effect  upon  the  life  of  the  whole  plateau. 
Granting,  however,  any  degree  of  communication  one  may 
choose  to  assume  within  reasonable  limits  in  the  pre-Spanish 
days,  it  is  still  true  that  when  the  Spaniard  came,  organized 
the  modern  towns,  and  exerted  himself  in  many  instances  to 
gather  the  Indians  into  compact  communities,  there  were 
developed  resources  and  trade  currents  that  changed  the  old 
established  ways  of  life.  It  was  one  of  the  great  contributions 
of  the  white  race  to  Indian  economy  that  difficult  sites  were 
made  unnecessary.  The  amount  of  human  labor  spent  upon 
stout  stone  houses  on  hilltops  or  steep  hill  slopes  and  in  getting 
to  them  and  down  again  for  purposes  of  the  chase  or  in  tilling 
the  valley  soil  is  almost  incalculable.  When  the  Spaniard  came 
the  intertribal  wars  diminished  and  then  stopped  altogether, 
and  settled  life  became  permanently  established  in  more 
accessible  situations. 

The  mines  called  away  increasing  numbers  of  Indians  from 
their  farms,  and  the  city  life  also  attracted  an  important  Indian 
population.  As  the  taste  for  articles  of  foreign  manufacture 
grew,  shops  by  Indians  for  the  sale  of  goods  to  Indians  increased 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  liN  THK  PAST  325 

in  number.  When  the  development  of  the  rubber  forests  began 
there  was  a  sudden  demand  for  labor  which  could  not  be  sup- 
plied from  the  Indian  population  of  the  rubber  forests.  The 
whole  vast  rim  of  the  Amazon  basin  felt  the  effects  of  this  call, 
and  the  call  was  one  of  increasing  urgency.  The  natives  of 
Ceara  in  easternmost  Brazil,  many  of  those  in  southern  Brazil, 
as  well  as  all  the  settlements  of  the  Chaco,  or  grass  country, 
in  southeastern  Bolivia  and  northeastern  Argentina  and  the 
eastern  half  of  the  Andean  plateau  region  were  affected  by  it. 
These  are  examples  of  withdrawal  of  population  from  farms. 
Formerly  attached  to  a  piece  of  grazing  or  farm  land,  hundreds 
of  thousands  now  live  on  work  provided  by  foreign  capital  and 
produce  or  deal  in  things  that  are  shipped  abroad  as  well  as 
articles  or  foodstuffs  of  local  consumption.  To  a  notable  de- 
gree long-established  Indian  communities  became  disrupted, 
and  the  population  was  made  dependent  upon  a  commercial 
structure  that  had  its  origin  in  the  industrial  needs  of  far- 
distant  peoples  in  the  north  temperate  zone. 

Modern  Exploitation  and  Its  Effects 

All  this  meant  that  there  was  increasing  opportunity  for  the 
whites  to  buy  large  tracts  of  land  at  moderate  prices.  Estates 
in  southern  Peru  and  in  the  Bolivian  basins  and  valleys  bought 
for  30,000  soles  in  a  given  year  increased  in  value  by  30  to  40 
per  cent  by  the  following  year.  One  proprietor  in  southern 
Peru  has  bought  up  little  by  little  from  the  Indians  in  two 
adjacent  valleys  an  enormous  estate  and  now  owns  from 
10,000  to  15,000  sheep,  40  horses,  and  600  cows.  He  pastures 
no  alpacas  or  llamas  except  by  Indians  who  own  them  and 
who  work  upon  his  land.  To  the  Indians  of  the  country  and 
of  the  towns  he  sells  wool  and  dried  mutton.  He  has  engaged 
as  shepherds  Indian  families  who  live  in  isolated  huts  here  and 
there,  each  hut  surrounded  by  great  corrals  in  which  are  herd- 
ed at  night  the  flocks  that  in  the  daytime  range  far  and  wide 
over  the  adjacent  valley  lands  and  mountains  and  over  the  ter- 
races all  up  and  down  the  valley,  now  entirely  uncultivated 
except  for  little  spots  here  and  there.    The  extent  of  the  culti- 


326  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

vated  land  constitutes  but  a  few  per  cent  of  all  the  terraced 
areas.  The  terraces  are  grown  up  to  Ichu  grass  and  the  dark 
mina  bush  used  for  fuel.  In  many  cases  the  terraces  are  either 
ravined  or  covered  with  coarse  deposits  of  alluvial  cones  or 
fans.  Some  are  faced  with  stone  where  this  is  abundant,  and 
these  endure  for  a  long  time.  Others  are  mere  earthen  em- 
bankments with  flat  tops,  and  these  are  more  quickly  washed 
down. 

The  arrangements  between  proprietor  and  peon  shepherd 
are  as  follows.  Each  month  the  shepherd  obtains  one  sol,  or 
50  cents  gold,  per  100  head  of  sheep  in  his  care.  He  also  re- 
ceives half  an  arroba,  or  about  12^  pounds,  of  chufio  (dried 
potatoes),  worth  about  60  cents  gold,  half  an  arroba  of  quinoa 
(30  cents  gold),  a  pound  of  coca  (25  cents),  and  one  dried  car- 
cass of  mutton  (50  cents).  These  items  are  to  be  multiplied  by 
the  number  of  hundred  head  in  each  shepherd's  care,  the 
average  running  between  500  and  700  sheep.  When  the  shep- 
herd does  manual  labor  upon  the  estate  of  the  proprietor,  that 
is  labor  of  a  general  sort — repairing  fences  or  outbuildings, 
opening  ditches,  or  cultivating  land — he  obtains  coca  and  food 
but  no  pay.  The  accounts  between  the  proprietor  and  the 
shepherd  are  settled  on  the  first  of  January  of  each  year.  When 
a  shepherd  enters  the  employ  of  a  proprietor  he  commonly 
receives  10  sheep  to  begin  with,  and  these  the  shepherd  may 
guard  with  those  of  the  owner  or  separately,  as  he  may  desire. 
In  addition  each  shepherd  has  the  right  to  sow  grain,  plant  a 
garden,  and  keep  cattle.  In  some  cases  the  shepherds  have 
increased  their  own  flocks  up  to  200  or  more  in  number.  If 
one  of  the  owner's  sheep  is  lost  or  killed,  the  shepherd  must 
lose  the  amount  out  of  his  yearly  account.  For  every  ten 
sheep  sheared  the  shepherd  gets  20  cents  gold.  For  slaughter- 
ing ten  sheep  for  the  market  the  shepherd  gets  half  of  the  five 
following  parts:  liver,  heart,  stomach,  feet,  and  pancreas;  but 
he  obtains  no  ordinary  meat.  He  can  have  the  blood  of  the 
slaughtered  animals  if  he  wishes  it. 

Under  the  terms  of  the  arrangement  the  shepherd  must  take 
both  meat  and  wool  to  the  railroad.  While  in  this  service  he 
must  use  his  own  llamas  free  of  charge,  and  he  obtains  in 


HABITABILITY  OF  PUNA  IN  THE  PAST  327 

exchange  only  food  and  coca.  If  the  owner  has  no  immediate 
interest  in  a  given  valley,  a  shepherd  in  his  service  may  raise 
llamas  there.  It  is  seldom  that  the  shepherd  obtains  money  at 
the  end  of  the  year  when  the  account  is  settled,  generally 
only  a  few  soles  or  nothing  at  all ;  and  some  of  the  shepherds 
are  in  debt  to  the  proprietor. 

On  the  Romafia  estate  (Finca  Cayrani)  in  the  Cayrani  val- 
ley west  of  Lake  Titicaca,  to  which  also  the  foregoing  applies, 
there  are  fifteen  families  of  shepherds,  and  each  family  con- 
sists of  about  five  persons.  Before  the  estate  was  purchased 
there  were  but  four  or  five  families  in  the  territory  included 
in  it.  A  first  change  in  the  economic  system  and  also  in  mode 
of  life  under  the  first  white  governors  had  brought  about  the 
abandonment  of  the  terraces  and  an  actual  diminution  of  the 
population.  The  reverse  movement  is  illustrated  in  this  sig- 
nificant example,  in  which  development  of  the  pastoral  indus- 
try is  seen  to  have  brought  about  an  actual  increase  in 
population.  A  further  application  is  considered  in  the 
following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA 

The  Puna  de  Atacama  is  the  greatest  barrier  within  the  Cen- 
tral Andes,  the  most  extreme  case  of  lofty,  desolate  plateau 
and  winter  cold.  Farther  north  the  high  mountain  valleys  of 
the  Andes  are  moister  and  warmer,  farther  south  the  moun- 
tainous zone  is  narrower.  If  the  plateau  of  Bolivia  is  the  widest 
part  of  the  Andean  system  it  is  not  the  driest  nor  is  it  the  high- 
est. If  the  Andes  south  of  the  Puna  on  the  border  between 
Chile  and  Argentina  are  colder  because  of  a  more  southerly 
latitude  the  zone  of  cold  is  narrow,  it  takes  but  little  time  to 
cross  it,  it  offers  little  or  no  foothold  for  life  today,  and  it  of- 
fered no  scope  for  civilization  in  the  past.  Naturally  the  effects 
of  the  environment  upon  such  inhabitants  as  there  are  in  the 
Puna  or  about  its  borders  and  upon  the  ways  of  communica- 
tion are  not  only  marked  today  but  may  be  traced  back  by 
historical  and  archeological  evidence  into  the  racial  life  and 
culture  of  the  Indian  population. 

Do  Mountains  Divide  or  Unite  Peoples? 

We  often  think  of  mountains  as  tending  to  divide  peoples. 
We  picture  their  height,  their  rigorous  climate,  their  intricate 
system  of  roads,  the  steep  ascents  and  descents,  as  barriers  to 
free  intercourse.  There  abound  specific  and  accurate  illustra- 
tions of  this  principle,  but  we  must  also  carry  in  mind  an 
opposite  effect,  namely,  that  mountains  in  some  cases  tend  to 
hold  people  together.  In  fact,  one  must  go  further  and  recog- 
nize that  part  of  the  population  of  a  given  region  may  exhibit 
one  of  these  two  responses  while  part  of  the  population  in  the 
same  region  at  the  same  time  may  exhibit  the  opposite  response. 

Let  us  take  minerals  by  way  of  illustration.  In  the  Central 
Andes  there  are  a  number  of  famous  mineral  localities,  such  as 
Potosi,  Corocoro,  and,  farther  south,  in  the  Puna  de  Atacama, 
the  less  famous  but  rather  widely  known  San  Antonio  de  los 
Cobres.     There  are  many  mineral  localities  in  the  Desert  of 

328 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  329 

Atacama  and  in  the  region  of  Copiapo  in  Chile  that  might  also 
be  cited.  All  of  these  places  are  served  by  railroads  that  reach 
or  nearly  reach  the  mines.  These  railroads  are  built  at  great 
expense,  operated  on  a  very  costly  basis  with  coal  imported 
from  overseas,  and  traffic  is  so  light  that  new  sources  of  freight 
are  a  constant  anxiety  of  the  traffic  manager.  When  we  went 
to  the  superintendent  of  one  of  the  railroads  to  ask  him  for  the 
favor  of  free  transportation  because  we  were  a  scientific  expe- 
dition he  replied  that  he  would  willingly  give  us  passes  for  our- 
selves but  that  he  should  have  to  charge  us  for  the  freight  be- 
cause every  additional  pound  loaded  onto  the  freight  train 
definitely  raised  his  costs  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  im- 
ported coal.  Under  these  circumstances  a  gradient  is  not  a  bar- 
rier in  the  sense  that  cars  may  not  pass,  but  it  is  truly  a  barrier 
in  the  sense  that  every  additional  mile  of  ascent  increases  by  so 
much  more  the  operating  charges.  We  may  say  that  man  has 
overcome  the  mountain  in  such  a  case  but  that  he  pays  a  price. 
The  mountain  exacts  a  toll  from  him  that  must  be  added  to  the 
other  charges  of  his  business.  It  is  natural  for  him  to  wish  the 
mountain  away.  It  is  also  natural  that  his  railway  net  should 
be  spread  out  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  most  favorably  located 
with  reference  to  the  sources  of  his  freight,  the  large  towns  that 
may  furnish  a  tributary  tonnage,  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
main  lines  of  the  topographical  relief.  Figure  i  shows  the  rail- 
way net  of  the  Central  Andes,  and  it  is  the  most  striking  fea- 
ture of  the  map  that  the  railways  come  up  to  the  border  of  the 
mountains  but  that  only  two  penetrate  them.  Railway  proj- 
ects are  divided  in  consequence  of  the  broken  and  lofty 
mountain  barrier. 

How  strikingly  different  is  the  effect  of  high  mountain  coun- 
try upon  the  life  of  mountain  peoples!  I  have  elsewhere 
brought  out  this  fact  for  the  region  of  southern  Peru  and  west- 
ern Bolivia. ^2^  The  mountain  is  not  a  barrier  to  shepherds  who 
drive  their  flocks  all  over  the  higher  pastures  clear  to  the  snow 
line.   It  is  not  a  barrier  to  the  same  shepherds  when  they  go  up 

125  Isaiah   Bowman:   The   Highland   Dweller  of   Bolivia:   An  Anthropogeographic 
Interpretation  Bull.  Geogr.  Soc.  of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  7,  1909,  pp.  159-184. 
Idem;  The  Andes  of  Southern  Peru,  New  York,  19 16. 


330  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  down  the  mountain  valleys  to  exchange  their  pastoral  prod- 
ucts, such  as  hides,  wool,  and  the  like,  for  what  the  town  can 
furnish  in  the  way  of  necessary  implements  or  cloth.  A  man 
born  at  an  altitude  of  12,000  feet  who  is  accustomed  from  child- 
hood to  steep  mountain  ascents  and  who  knows  no  other  en- 
vironment cannot  possibly  look  upon  the  greater  part  of  his 
region  as  a  barrier.  To  him  it  is  all  the  world  there  is,  and  it  is 
good.  If,  as  happens  in  the  Central  Andes,  all  the  peoples  he 
comes  in  contact  with  are  of  like  nature,  follow  the  same 
occupations,  live  in  the  same  type  of  house,  make  their  living 
in  the  same  way,  his  exchanges  with  them  and  all  his  knowl- 
edge lead  him  to  look  upon  a  high  plateau  and  high  mountain 
valley  as  the  natural  home  of  man.  Because  the  mountain  zone 
is  broad  in  Peru  and  Bolivia,  there  was  scope  for  the  develop- 
ment of  an  extensive  civilization.  We  find  much  the  same  type 
of  life  among  the  primitive  inhabitants  from  the  top  of  the 
woodland  zone  on  the  east  to  the  desert  zone  on  the  west. 
Were  that  zone  narrow,  the  population  upon  one  side  would 
have  little  influence  on  that  of  the  other  and  indeed  might 
have  been  drawn  off  to  lower  elevations.  As  it  Is,  they  have 
developed  a  distinctive  civilization  which  we  may  say  has  been 
held  together  and  has  developed  in  part  because  of  the  very 
breadth  and  height  of  the  zone. 

Farther  south  the  Puna  de  Atacama  has  such  rigorous  cli- 
matic conditions  that  the  population  is  forcibly  excluded  every 
winter.  Yet  in  spite  of  this  exclusion  there  is  a  bond  be- 
tween the  populations  on  the  two  sides,  and  it  has  existed 
down  to  this  day  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  country  was 
settled  by  pioneers  from  the  north  and  west.  We  need  to  cor- 
rect the  common  view  that  mountains  perforce  exercise  a 
dividing  influence,  for  an  opposite  conclusion  is  drawn  from  a 
study  of  many  fields  besides  the  Central  Andes.  In  the  Pyre- 
nees, the  people  living  in  different  valleys  frequently  made 
agreements  regarding  pasture  rights  and  the  dues  to  be  paid 
by  their  respective  flocks  while  on  their  annual  migrations. 
From  the  thirteenth  century  down  to  the  eighteenth  there 
are  many  evidences  of  the  unifying  influence  of  these  moun- 
tain  valleys    upon    the    people    inhabiting   them.     Favoring 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  331 

migration  and  unity  is  the  prevailing  north-and-south  trend 
of  the  Pyrenean  valleys  which  encouraged  communication 
between  France  and  Spain  and  thus  gave  the  mountain  zone 
itself,  for  the  pasture  and  for  the  food  it  contained,  an  impor- 
tance not  merely  local  or  regional  in  character. ^-^  It  is  only 
in  our  time,  with  through  transportation  in  mind,  that  the 
Pyrenees  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  barrier.  In  short,  what 
is  a  home  for  the  simpler  civilization  of  yesterday  may  be  a 
barrier  for  the  highly  developed  civilization  of  today,  which 
requires  organization,  government,  transportation,  access  to 
world  markets  in  a  way  and  on  a  scale  unknown  to  the 
primitive  possessor  of  the  soil. 

Occupation  of  the  Land 

The  Puna  de  Atacama  gains  in  geographical  importance  to 
the  degree  that  it  is  studied  as  a  part  of  the  whole  belt  of  high 
country  that  runs  southward  along  the  Andean  Cordillera 
through  Peru,  Bolivia,  and  northern  Chile.  The  mountain  folk 
of  this  region  live  under  unlike  conditions  of  climate,  relief, 
trails,  and  markets;  but  all  are  alike  in  working  at  amazingly 
great  altitudes  and  under  primitive  conditions  that  call  always 
for  intelligent  and  often  for  painstaking  adaptation.  The  physi- 
cal differences  which  the  high  country  displays  from  place  to 
place  are  reflected  in  the  life  and  welfare  of  the  various  Indian 
communities.  To  conclude  this  chapter  we  shall  now  explore 
the  conditions  in  certain  more  northerly  districts  in  order  the 
better  to  see  the  operation  of  physical  handicaps  that  grow 
gradually  more  difficult  in  a  southerly  direction  until  they 
reach  their  climax  in  the  bleak,  cold,  and  arid  Puna  de  Ata- 
cama where  even  the  shepherds  are  driven  out  in  winter  at 
altitudes  at  which  agriculture  and  cities  flourish  in  Bolivia  and 
central  and  southern  Peru. 

In  Peru  and  Bolivia  as  far  south  as  Uyuni  (latitude  20°  S.) 
the  plateau  and  valley  country  between  the  eastern  and 
western  Cordilleras  has  sufficient  rain  to  make  possible  the 
cultivation  of  alluvial  and  hillside  soils  without  irrigation, 
though  irrigation  is  practiced  throughout  the  whole  of  the 

126  Julius  Klein:  The  Mesta:  A  Study  in  Spanish  Economic  History,  1273-1836 
(Harvard  Economic  Studies,  Vol.  21),  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1920. 


332  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

mountain  belt  in  which  cereals  are  grown ;  that  is  up  to  eleva- 
tions of  1 1, GOO  to  12,000  feet.  The  surface  of  the  high  Central 
Andean  plateau  may  be  seen  at  its  best  between  Lake  Titicaca 
and  La  Paz.  Barley,  wheat,  and  millet  are  raised;  and  the 
small  native  potato  grows  above  the  zone  of  irrigation  up  to 
very  high  levels,  only  a  thousand  feet  below  the  snow  line. 
Naturally  the  location  of  settlements  as  well  as  the  houses  of 
individual  farmers  is  determined  by  access  to  water  for  irriga- 
tion. This  is  true  for  the  terraces  and  valley  floors  of  deep- 
sunk  canyons  like  those  of  the  Cotahuasi  and  the  Apurimac  in 
central  Peru  and  the  great  plantations  around  Abancay.  In 
all  the  deeper  basins  and  valleys  there  is  dependence  for 
cereals,  fruit  orchards,  and  corn  and  cane  fields  upon  an  as- 
sured source  of  water. 

Least  dependent  upon  the  water  supply  are  the  small  settle- 
ments and  individual  farms  which  rely  upon  flocks  and  herds 
for  a  livelihood  and  supplement  such  resources  by  growing 
potatoes  in  favorable  sites.  Such  communities  and  individuals 
depend  for  part  of  their  livelihood,  as  a  rule,  upon  services  to 
plantation  owners.  Even  the  lands  they  occupy  are  normally 
rented  from  the  large  hacendados  upon  the  valley  floor  where 
the  main  settlements  and  the  distillation  works  for  producing 
brandy  are  located.  The  rent  is  paid  in  labor  in  such  instances, 
sometimes  supplemented  by  a  very  small  money  payment. 

The  very  existence  of  the  system  of  land  tenure  that  prevails 
in  these  two  countries  and  that  brings  into  vital  relation  the 
dweller  in  the  high  mountain  valleys  and  the  owner  of  the 
valley  floor  and  the  town  upon  it  is  an  indication  of  the  thor- 
ough usefulness  of  the  land  in  the  Central  Andes  north  of  the 
Puna  de  Atacama  throughout  the  entire  belt  from  deep-cut 
canyon  up  over  terraces  and  intermediate  slopes,  high  basins, 
and  still  higher  pastures,  to  the  snow  line.  There  may  be 
bouldery  tracts  here  and  there,  expanses  of  bare  rock,  arenales 
or  local  sandy  wastes,  poorly  drained,  brackish  or  saline 
swamps,  steep  canyon  borders,  and  coarse,  stony  land  waste  at 
the  head  of  an  alluvial  fan  where  both  soil  and  a  convenient 
water  supply  are  lacking — but  these  are  all  local  exceptions. 
The  amount  of  land  that  is  necessary  to  support  a  community 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA 


333 


of  a  given  size  varies  from  place  to  place  according  to  the  rich- 
ness of  the  pastures,  the  degree  of  dissection  of  the  relief,  the 
access  to  water  supply,  and  the  distance  from  consuming  cen- 
ters and  the  railway.  Yet  still  the  generalization  holds  true 
that,  speaking  roughly,  all  of  the  land  is  useful. 


Fig.  117 — The  high  plateau,  oraltlplano,  of  Bolivia  between  Lake  Titicaca  and 
La  Paz,  looking  eastward  from  a  point  near  Viacha  toward  the  Cordillera  Real. 
The  whole  plain  is  intensively  cultivated  except  where  it  is  too  gravelh'  or  stony 
in  belts  and  patches  near  the  mountains. 

On  the  east  is  the  tropical  forest,  and  on  the  west  of  the 
Peruvian  and  Bolivian  Cordilleras  is  the  coastal  desert;  and  in 
both  these  environments  the  usefulness  of  the  land  and  the 
disposition  of  the  settlements  are  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
conditions  we  have  sketched  above.  The  forest  has  natural 
pathways  in  the  rivers  that  thread  it,  the  so-called  "flowing 
roads,"  so  that  men  are  driven  to  seek  favorable  settlements 
upon  the  river  border.  Strikingly  similar  are  the  disposition 
of  settlements  in  the  desert,  where  men  seek  the  river  though 
the  interfluves  are  open,  for  the  latter  are  dry  and  are  areas  of 
transit,  not  sources  of  livelihood,  and  it  is  on  the  valley  floor 


334  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  the  bordering  terraces  that  man  Is  able  to  satisfy  his 
material  needs. 

Contrasts  Between  Northern  and  Southern 
Sections  of  the  Central  Andes 

Central-western  Bolivia  marks  the  change  between  the 
northern  portion  of  the  Central  Andes  and  that  southern 
portion  that  embraces  the  great  salars  and  interior  basins  that 
form  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  Puna  landscape.  The 
change  is  interestingly  foreshadowed  in  the  contrast  between 
lakes  Titicaca  and  Poopo.  While  the  water  of  Lake  Titicaca 
is  slightly  brackish,  fish  live  in  it  and  are  caught  for  food;  and 
its  border  is  in  many  places  fringed  with  reeds  that  grow  in 
shallow  water.  The  great  depression  in  which  the  lake  lies  is 
fed  by  rains  and  melting  snows  from  the  surrounding  high- 
lands and  mountains,  principally  the  Cordillera  Real;  and  so 
copious  and  regular  is  the  supply  that,  instead  of  drying  up. 
Lake  Titicaca  persists  as  a  large  lake  and  continuously  over- 
flows its  southern  rim  into  the  vast  depression  just  south  of  it. 
The  outlet  of  Lake  Titicaca,  the  Desaguadero,  pursues  its 
course  southeastward  to  Lake  Poopo,  more  than  400  feet 
lower  than  Lake  Titicaca.  Though  Lak'^  Poopo  spills  a  moder- 
ate amount  of  water  westward  into  the  great  salars  of  Coipasa, 
there  is  so  much  water  evaporated  from  the  shallow  basin  of 
Poopo  as  to  render  the  water  too  salt  to  be  drinkable. 

These  changes  in  salinity  of  the  water  in  the  three  successive 
basins  arranged  from  north  to  south — Titicaca,  Poopo,  and 
Coipasa — are  in  almost  exact  sympathy  with  the  rainfall,  and 
as  the  rainfall  diminishes  we  find  man  himself  making  cor- 
responding responses.  Cultivation,  or  at  least  occupation  for 
pasture,  extends  pretty  much  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
mountain  and  valley  zone  of  Peru,  as  we  have  seen  above;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  Bolivian  plateau  south  of  Lake  Titicaca. 
Midway  between  the  two  lakes  a  change  takes  place.  The  land 
adjacent  to  Titicaca  is  cultivated  for  cereals,  the  soil  farther 
south  becomes  more  sterile,  and  saline  tracts  more  numerous. 
The  effect  is  to  divide  the  population  into  two  ribbons  (east 
and  west  of  the  Salar  de  LTyuni)  instead  of  a  continuous  broad 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  335 

band  (Dcsaguadcro  V'alleyj.  In  just  the  proportion  that  they 
become  divided  does  the  character  of  the  settlements  change. 
Where  it  is  a  continuous  belt  there  is  more  frequent  com- 
munication and  larger  towns.  Farther  south  the  settlements 
in  the  central  part  of  the  basin  become  small  and  widely 
scattered. 

The  salars  themselves  have  no  towns  upon  them  because 
they  are  quite  uninhabitable  owing  to  the  absence  of  fresh 
water  and  pasture  and  the  very  strong  contrasts  of  temperature 
from  night  to  day,  the  heat  of  midday  being  unbearable  for 
practically  the  whole  of  the  year  and  the  sunlight  extremely 
trying.  In  addition,  Lake  Poopo  is  almost  surrounded  by  a 
saline  marsh.  South  of  Coipasa  is  the  great  Salar  de  Uyuni. 
It  fills  almost  the  entire  width  of  the  great  table-land  between 
the  interior  borders  of  the  eastern  and  western  cordilleras. 
South  of  it  the  salars  are  broken  up  into  smaller  units  by  local 
volcanic  eruptions. 

Thence  southward  the  salars  continue  over  a  broad  stretch 
of  country  (see  the  map.  Fig.  87)  occupying  a  portion  of  east- 
ern Chile  southeast  of  Calama,  southwestern  Bolivia,  and 
northwestern  Argentina. ^■■" 

With  diminishing  rainfall  southward  the  size  of  the  salars 
diminishes,  for  we  can  only  have  the  greatest  salars  where  we 
have  relatively  flat  topography,  broad  basin  floors  upon  which 
the  waters  may  be  spread  out  in  a  thin  sheet,  and  a  substantial 
amount  of  rain.  If  the  rainfall  becomes  very  light  the  salars 
will  be  broken  up  into  small  units  in  the  hollows  of  limited 
basin  floors,  and  this  is  the  situation  southward  in  the  Puna  de 
Atacama. 

The  contrast  between  the  Puna  de  Atacama  and  the  plateaus 
of  Bolivia  and  Peru  is  still  stronger  if  we  study  them  with 
respect  to  their  eastern  approaches  and  the  coming  and  going 

1-'  The  details  of  relief  and  drainage  are  shown  in  the  clearest  manner  upon  three 
adjacent  sheets  of  the  Millionth  Map  of  Hispanic  America  by  the  American  Geo- 
graphical Society.  The  first-named  is  published.  The  other  two  will  appear  in 
1925.  They  are  in  order  from  north  to  south:  the  La  Paz  sheet,  the  Iquique  sheet,  and 
the  Atacama  sheet.  The  boundary  survej's  between  the  three  countries,  Chile,  Bolivia, 
and  Argentina,  whose  common  frontiers  unite  in  the  Puna  de  Atacama  on  the  23rd 
parallel  of  latitude  south,  have  provided  the  major  part  of  the  cartographic  material 
gathered  together  and  analyzed  in  the  production  of  the  two  latter  sheets. 


336  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

of  trader  and  settler  between  the  high  country  and  the  low 
country.  The  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes  in  Peru  and  Bolivia 
are  wet  and  forested.  Indeed,  so  heavy  is  the  rainfall  that  the 
valley  floors  are  in  places  swampy;  and  some  situations  are 
unhealthful  owing  to  stagnant  or  semistagnant  drainage  as, 
for  example,  a  portion  of  the  Yungas.  Thus  it  appears  that  in 
spite  of  its  subtropical  character,  its  undoubted  productivity, 
and  the  great  demand  for  its  products  on  the  plateau,  the 
eastern  slope  region  labors  under  a  physical  handicap  that 
has  not  been  removed  down  to  our  own  time.  Moreover, 
the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes  in  Peru  and  Bolivia  lie  in 
situations  far  inland.  Eastward,  several  thousand  miles  of 
distance  separate  them  from  the  Atlantic,  and  there  are  no 
great  settlements  calling  to  them  for  the  products  of  forest  and 
field.  Their  markets  are  overseas,  and  in  addition  to  the  ocean 
distances  are  the  difficulties  of  the  river  passage.  Their  geo- 
graphical position  has  resulted  in  settlement  and  trade  as  a 
consequence  of  stimuli  that  have  issued /row  the  mountain  zone; 
and  it  is  the  mountain  zone  to  which  they  send  their  products 
and  in  which  they  must  find  their  coastal  outlets.  Though 
the  improvement  of  navigation  and  the  building  of  railroad 
lines  in  the  Amazon  country  have  been  regularly  forecast  for 
sixty  years,  the  only  railroad  is  the  Madeira- Mamore  line 
and  the  transportation  service  of  the  streams  is  still  confined 
to  the  small  launch  and  the  canoe. 

In  much  the  same  way  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  the  altiplano 
of  western  Bolivia,  and  the  high  basins  of  Peru  were  long  tied 
to  the  Pacific ;  and  that  indeed  is  the  situation  of  the  two  last- 
named  regions  today.  By  contrast  the  population  of  the 
valleys  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama  have 
now  established  relations  with  larger  settlements  east  of  the 
mountains,  like  Salta,  Tucuman,  Andalgala,  Tinogasta,  and 
this  to  such  a  degree  that  their  trade  is  definitely  oriented 
toward  the  southeast.  While  the  connections  with  the  Pacific 
are  by  no  means  broken,  they  are  of  less  importance  on  the 
whole  than  they  were  in  the  centuries  of  colonial  trade.  In 
short,  the  plain  draws  the  mountain  life  down  to  it,  whereas 
in  Bolivia  and  Peru  it  is  the  mountain  toward  which  gravitates 
the  life  of  the  eastern  valleys  and  the  bordering  plain. 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  337 

The  width  of  the  forest  belt  is  also  a  matter  of  great  impor- 
tance, for  in  eastern  Peru  and  Bolivia  the  forest  is  broad  and 
the  growth  dense.  As  we  go  southward  the  forest  becomes 
more  patchy  in  character.  It  narrows  down  to  a  well-defined 
band  on  the  mountain  side  that  can  sometimes  be  seen  in  its 
whole  breadth  from  a  single  viewpoint.  There  are  gaps  or 
"passes"  through  it.  Transit  up  and  down  the  mountain 
valleys  through  the  forest  zone  is  here  unhindered  by  the 
growth  of  jungle  or  dense  stands  of  trees.  Though  there  is  a 
wet  season  it  is  of  short  duration,  and  the  floods  in  the  rivers 
have  less  force.  The  trails  are  easier  to  maintain.  Trade  is 
more  regular.  The  distances  to  be  covered  may  be  as  great  as 
farther  north,  but  the  time  of  passage  is  shorter.  It  is  easy  to 
think  that  under  these  conditions  the  effect  of  the  plain  upon 
the  mountain  population  of  the  Puna  in  drawing  it  away  from 
its  Pacific  outlets  is  obvious;  but  the  obviousness  disappears 
when  we  see  that,  in  spite  of  the  far  greater  difficulties  of  the 
passage  in  eastern  Peru  and  Bolivia  and  in  spite  of  the  inviting 
rivers  that  flow  down  into  the  Amazon  basin,  the  mountain 
continues  to  attract  the  trade  of  the  eastern  valleys  and  the 
bordering  plain. 

In  the  eastern  mountain  belt  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  there  is  a 
permanent  gap  of  several  thousand  feet  vertical  elevation  be- 
tween the  zone  of  snow  and  the  zone  of  forest.  The  belt  of 
maximum  rainfall  lies  between  5000  and  8000  feet.  The  cold 
timber  line  runs  from  9000  to  10,500  feet,  with  a  few  outleirs  of 
stunted  woodland  as  far  as  12,500  feet.  In  secluded  valleys 
deep  set  among  the  eastern  mountains  a  dry  timber  line  occurs 
in  places  around  3000  feet  with  many  variations  in  elevation 
due  to  the  variable  declivity,  the  exposure  of  the  slopes,  and 
the  degree  of  seclusion  of  the  valleys. ^-^  So  we  find  permanent 
habitations  but  little  below  the  snow  line  and  a  group  of  dis- 
tinctive high  mountain  folk  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
pasture  belt.     If  the  alpine  meadows  of  these  mountains  are 

1-8  A  systematic  description  of  the  plant  geography  of  Bolivia  and  southern  Peru 
is  given  by  Th.  Herzog:  Die  Pfianzenwelt  der  bolivischen  Anden  und  ihres  ostlichen 
Vorlandes,  in  Die  Vegetation  der  Erde,  1923.  Besides  the  botanical  descriptions  there 
are  photographs  and  two  valuable  maps  of  the  Eastern  Cordillera  of  Bolivia  and  of 
Bolivia  as  a  whole. 


338  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

buried  under  snow  or  troubled  with  hail  it  is  on  their  upper 
fringe  only,  for  elsewhere  the  snowfall  is  so  light  that  an  hour 
of  morning  sunshine  dissipates  it.  Virtually  the  whole  of  the 
pasture  belt  is  open  for  stock  the  year  round. 

In  southern  Peru,  along  the  73rd  meridian,  I  passed  a  per- 
manent habitation  at  17,100  feet,  or  only  a  little  below  the 
snow  line,  believed  to  be  the  highest  permanent  habitation  yet 
found  anywhere  in  the  world.  Hundreds  of  alpacas  and  sheep 
grazed  on  the  hill  slopes  and  valley  floors  roundabout;  and 
their  tracks  showed  plainly  that  they  were  frequently  driven 
up  to  the  snow  line  in  those  valleys,  where  a  trickle  of  water 
supports  a  band  of  pasture.  Less  than  100  feet  below  them 
were  other  huts  and  flocks.  The  situation  illustrates  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  high  pastures  may  be  utilized.  High  valleys 
at  16,000  feet  are  frequent  in  which  a  thick  carpet  of  grass 
supports  large  flocks  of  sheep,  llamas,  and  alpacas;  and  the 
valley  floor  is  the  site  of  numerous  huts  and  corrals.  ^^^ 

By  contrast,  the  highest  permanent  habitations  above  Poma 
in  the  region  of  Penas  Blancas  were  at  11,000  feet.  No  per- 
manent settlements  aside  from  individual  huts  or  shelters  can 
be  found  at  higher  elevations,  and  no  towns  at  all.  The  ham- 
lets or  villages  mentioned  in  Chapter  XV  are  all  below  12,000 
feet.  No  town  of  real  consequence  and,  with  the  exception  of 
San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres,  none  at  all  with  a  population  ex- 
ceeding 500  lies  above  10,000  feet.  No  town  of  more  than  1000 
lies  above  the  forest  zone.  To  find  towns  of  this  size  we  must 
go  into  the  forest  belt  or  immediately  below  it.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, is  the  situation  of  Salta,  Jujuy,  Tucuman,  Catamarca, 
as  well  as  a  host  of  lesser  towns  among  or  near  them.  All  the 
settlements  are  closely  associated  with  the  eastern  slopes  rather 
than  the  Puna  or  the  coastal  desert.  That  is,  instead  of  avoid- 
ing the  rainy  belt  as  in  Peru  and  northeastern  Bolivia  the  popula- 
tion seeks  it  on  the  border  of  the  Puna. 

Exploitation  of  the  Pastures 

There  is  no  present  prospect  of  the  development  of  minerals 
in  the  Puna  de  Atacama  on  such  a  scale  as  to  support  a  large 

129  Isaiah  Bowman:  Andes  of  Southern  Peru,  pp.  52-53  el  al. 


tin 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  339 

settlement.  Nor  is  there  a  sufficient  water  supply  concentrated 
at  any  point  to  tempt  a  considerable  agricultural  population. 
Development  of  the  pasture  land  is  the  only  known  way  of 
increasing  the  population  and  production.  When  we  consider 
the  small  forage  resources  of  the  Puna  and  its  bordering  valleys 
at  the  present  time  it  might  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  small  im- 
portance to  the  world  that  the  pastures  are  capable  of  impro\'ed 
use;  but  to  take  this  view  is  to  overlook  the  growing  im- 
portance of  pasture  to  the  world  as  a  whole.  In  the  pioneering 
belt  of  the  world  the  shepherd  has  everywhere  retreated  before 
the  farmer. 

\Mth  every  advance  in  settlement  at  the  expense  of  the 
open  range,  man  has  been  driven  to  explore  the  limit  of  possi- 
bilities in  pasturage.  The  example  of  Australia  is  interesting 
in  this  respect.  The  natural  ranges  have  given  way  to  wheat 
farms  over  large  territories,  and  the  inner  ranges  and  plateaus 
have  been  explored  with  the  result  that  some  of  them  have 
been  found  to  have  highly  important  pasture  land  which  needs 
only  a  supply  of  drinking  water  from  artesian  wells  to  make 
them  of  use  to  the  rancher.  South  Africa  has  had  similar 
experience,  and  government  aid  in  the  drilling  of  wells  has 
become  a  part  of  government  policy. 

Every  advance  into  the  range  country  has  meant  larger 
cities  and  denser  communities  outside  the  range  and  an  increase 
in  the  demand  for  leather  and  leather  products  as  well  as  for 
wool  and  meat.  During  the  past  one  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
that  is  to  say  during  the  modern  industrial  period,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  world  has  doubled,  and  almost  everywhere  city 
populations  have  had  an  abnormal  increase.  This  means  that 
there  must  be  a  diminished  use  of  the  products  of  the  range, 
particularly  meat  and  skins,  or  utilization  of  ranges  hitherto 
neglected,  or  an  increase  in  the  number  of  expensive  stall-fed 
cattle.  These  aspects  of  the  case  lend  peculiar  interest  to 
the  pastures  of  the  Andes.  Throughout  their  extent  they  are 
undeveloped  except  near  the  larger  towns  and  mining  centers  or 
along  the  routes  of  rail  or  pack-train  transportation.  Yet 
little  effort  has  been  made  by  any  of  the  governments  to  turn 
this  resource  to  account.     The  Bolivian  government  is  re- 


340  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

ported  to  have  experimented  with  Siberian  grasses  in  the  hope 
of  finding  hardy  drought-  and  cold-resisting  varieties  in  distant 
parts  of  the  world  that  will  endure  the  climate  of  high  eleva- 
tions in  the  Andes  and  furnish  additional  forage.  The  search 
should  be  pursued  through  government  agencies  in  a  much 
more  earnest  fashion  than  has  been  the  case  up  to  this  time, 
for  our  experience  in  the  search  of  agricultural  plants  in  the 
United  States  raises  the  presumption  that  a  similar  explora- 
tion for  grasses  would  lead  to  a  far  better  adjustment  of 
forage  plants  to  new  situations. 

Were  such  means  employed  to  increase  the  forage  resources 
of  the  Puna  and  its  larger  basins  and  valleys  it  would  make 
possible  the  better  use  of  certain  pastures  that  are  now  hardly 
used  at  all.  In  every  period  of  wet  years  there  is  a  vast  in- 
crease of  forage  afield.  The  more  favorable  slopes  have  un- 
counted acres  of  forage  which  is  wasted,  because  it  is  only  the 
minimum  capacity  of  the  land  that  now  forms  the  standard 
of  size  of  flocks  and  herds  grazing  in  the  mountains.  Before 
herds  can  be  assembled  from  a  distance  to  take  advantage  of 
short-lived  wet-season  pastures  the  dry  years  have  come  again. 

The  Alpaca  Pastures  of  Northern  Bolivia 

The  value  of  pasture  land  in  the  special  economy  of  the 
Central  Andes  is  illustrated  by  the  experience  of  Bolivians  in 
the  alpaca  pastures  at  high  elevations  north  of  Lake  Titicaca 
in  the  Nevados  de  Apolobamba.^^^  Alpaca  wool,  which  is  very 
fine  and  long,  is  best  grown  from  flocks  that  graze  in  short, 
rather  thick  pastures  where  there  is  fairly  abundant  water 
supply  but  especially  where  the  elevation  is  sufficiently  great 

130  -phe  pastures  of  Apolobamba  lie  in  a  region  long  in  dispute  between  Bolivia  and 
Peru.  Though  a  boundary  settlement  was  made  on  the  basis  of  an  arbitral  award  in 
1908,  the  country  in  dispute  was  the  scene  of  many  quarrels  between  individual  alpaca 
owners  and  landowners  of  Peru  on  the  one  side,  and  Bolivia  on  the  other.  As  a  result 
of  continuing  quarrels,  thefts,  and  outrages,  the  number  of  alpacas  was  reduced  from 
200,000  to  60,000  on  the  Bolivian  side.  Wool  was  smuggled  across  the  frontier  from 
Bolivia  to  Peru  whence  it  was  taken  to  Arequipa  and  sold  in  Europe  as  Arequipa 
alpaca.  The  boundary  difficulty  embarrassed  Bolivia  because  its  officially  recognized 
exports  of  alpaca  wool  fell  off  and  it  lost  in  customs  receipts.  It  also  lost  in  financial 
prestige,  for  alpaca  wool  is  one  of  its  distinctive  exports  upon  which  it  depends  to  keep 
up  its  income  as  well  as  to  stabilize  its  international  exchanges. 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PUNA  341 

to  give  an  almost  continuously  cool  or  cold  climate  the  year 
round — in  the  Central  Andes  above  15,000  feet.  In  such 
combinations  of  climate  and  pasture  the  finest  wools  are  grown, 
but  such  combinations  occur  only  at  elevations  one  or  two 
thousand  feet  below  the  snow  line  and  far  above  the  limit  at 
which  white  populations  can  live  permanently  in  large  numbers. 
The  Bolivian  government  has  attempted  to  build  up  the 
alpaca  business  in  the  Apolobamba  region  by  selling  a  monop- 
oly of  the  wool  industry.  The  concessionaire  is  the  only  person 
in  the  district  who  can  take  the  property  and  animals  of  the 
Indian  if  the  latter  does  not  meet  his  contractual  obligation 
to  deliver  a  certain  amount  of  wool.  It  works  out  that  the 
concessionaire  is  enabled  to  stock  his  several  ranches  with  the 
beasts  of  defaulting  creditors.  The  concessionaire  keeps  a 
store  and  has  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  in  alcohol  in  his  district, 
his  place  of  business  being  the  port  of  entry,  Puerto  Acosto, 
or  Huaicho,  as  it  used  to  be  called.  To  obtain  the  wool  he 
signs  a  contract  with  an  Indian  who  is  to  deliver  an  agreed 
amount,  say  five  pounds  per  head  from  a  flock  of  two  hundred, 
or  a  thousand  pounds  in  all.  This  contract  is  signed  by  the 
corregidor,  or  subprefect,  and  stamped  with  a  seal.  The  Indian 
obtains  advances  on  his  contract  from  the  concessionaire. 
These  consist  of  clothing  and  food,  for  in  the  best  alpaca  dis- 
tricts no  vegetable  food  at  all  can  be  raised,  not  even  potatoes. 
Supplies  consist  of  chuno,  quinoa,  barley,  wheat,  corn,  etc. 
The  concessionaire  agrees  with  the  government  in  return  for 
rights  of  ownership  to  four  square  leagues  of  land  to  stock  it 
with  2500  model  alpacas  in  three  years.  In  return  for  this  he 
obtains  permanent  title  to  the  land  at  the  end  of  three  years. 
All  that  he  produces  or  obtains  from  the  Indians  he  ships  out 
of  Bolivia  as  Bolivian  wool  to  Europe,  and  unlike  other  ex- 
porters he  pays  no  export  duty  for  twenty  years.  The  govern- 
ment aids  the  enterprise  further  by  laying  no  duty  on  wool 
going  out  of  Puerto  Acosta  but  requiring  a  heavy  duty  to  be 
paid  on  wool  leaving  Cojata,  a  town  of  a  thousand  or  more  on 
the  frontier  where  the  alpaca  is  produced.  By  arrangement  be- 
tween the  two  governments,  Bolivian  wool  destined  for  over- 
seas consumption  pays  no  duty  on  transit  across  southern  Peru 


342  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

and  in  the  Peruvian  ports  of  Puno  on  Lake  Titicaca  and  Mol- 
lendo  on  the  Pacific. 


Possible  Development  in  the  Puna  de  Atacama 

Though  there  is  no  corresponding  prospect  of  the  develop- 
ment of  alpaca  pastures  in  the  Puna,  it  would  be  possible  to 
extend  the  range  of  llamas  and  sheep  at  intermediate  levels 
below  the  drier  tracts  or  on  their  borders  where  a  better  type 
of  grass  may  eventually  be  introduced.  The  time  will  surely 
come  when  the  occupation  of  the  cattle-farming  and  grazing 
lands  of  the  Argentine  will  have  been  completed,  and  these 
vast  tracts  of  little-used  mountain  pastures  will  then  become 
a  positive  asset.  The  process  is  even  now  going  on  and  is  il- 
lustrated by  the  figures  of  land  values  given  on  page  210,  land 
having  increased  in  value  in  the  Calchaqui  valley  several  hun- 
dred per  cent  in  a  decade  through  the  increasing  use  of  pasture 
lands.  The  government  must  take  the  lead.  The  sinking  of 
wells,  the  recovery  or  storage  of  water,  and  the  improvement 
of  the  pasture  flora  is  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  individual, 
who  cannot  turn  it  into  immediate  account  in  his  day  and 
generation,  partly  because  of  the  large  capital  investment, 
partly  because  of  the  length  of  time  over  which  the  experi- 
ment must  run. 

At  best  the  Puna  and  its  bordering  valleys  will  be  a  country 
of  relatively  thin  population  for  all  time.  Should  the  nitrate 
deposits  decline  in  importance  on  account  of  the  development 
of  synthetic  nitrate  processes  in  the  temperate  zone  near  the 
seats  of  industry  where  water  power  is  available  in  large 
amounts  (compare  p.  87),  the  pastoral  villages  of  the  Puna 
and  its  borders  would  for  a  time  also  decline.  Of  borax  de- 
velopment there  may  be  some  in  time,  but  borax  is  not  a  rare 
mineral.  There  is  only  a  remote  chance  of  some  development 
taking  place  through  minerals  yet  to  be  discovered,  for  as  a 
whole  the  Puna  is  a  region  of  volcanic  rock  of  a  type  in  which 
mineral  deposits  of  commercial  value  are  not  found. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  HISTORICAL  BEARING 

The  contemporary  life  of  any  region  is  not  a  main  object 
of  study  by  the  geographer  alone;  the  record  of  it  is  of  high 
value  to  the  historian,  who  is  thereby  put  in  possession  of 
far  better  material  for  an  analysis  of  the  life  of  the  past.  In 
the  unfolding  of  civilization  in  the  great  cultural  centers  of 
the  world  there  were  an  almost  infinite  number  of  stages  and 
of  types  of  environment.  The  effect  of  physical  conditions 
was  now  moderate,  now  great.  To  estimate  such  an  effect 
requires  the  handling  of  geographical  materials,  and  it  still 
remains  a  fact  that  the  accepted  technique  of  historical  re- 
search lays  far  too  little  stress  upon  geographical  sources  and 
particularly  upon  geographical  method.  The  definitive  history 
of  South  America  will  be  written  by  that  historian  who  knows 
best  the  geography  of  South  America  today,  for  in  the  present 
life  in  one  place  or  another  one  may  find  illustrated  virtually 
every  stage  that  has  passed.  More  than  that,  there  is  value  in 
studying  every  important  response  to  environment,  no  matter 
in  what  part  of  the  world  it  may  be  displayed ;  for  the  flow  of 
knowledge  of  plant  life  and  of  human  organization  tends  in 
time  to  put  new  tools  into  the  hands  of  men  struggling  against 
conditions  whose  conquest  or  amelioration  has  already  been 
achieved  elsewhere.  This  makes  life  not  merely  easier  and  hap- 
pier here  and  there  as  adaptation  is  carried  forward  more  rap- 
idly; it  makes  it  also  more  intelligent  and  conscious  and  there- 
by sets  up  all  manner  of  secondary  impulses  that  speed  the 
progress  of  mankind. 

The  Desert  of  Atacama  and  the  Puna  de  Atacama  fall 
within  one  of  the  seven  great  regions  of  the  world  in  which  the 
population  density  is  less  than  one  inhabitant  per  square  mile. 
Yet  their  effect  upon  life  both  settled  and  transient  is  an  out- 
standing, indeed  a  vital,  fact  in  the  history  and  social  develop- 
ment of  South  America.   Through  their  arid  wastes  streamed 

343 


344  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

the  Inca  armies  before  the  Conquest;  and  after  that  came 
the  Spanish  adventurers  and  soldiers  of  fortune,  the  founders 
of  cities,  the  administrators,  round  whom  gathered  bands  of 
determined  men,  those  that  drifted  thither  and  those  that 
came  as  sturdy  settlers  to  estabhsh  famihes  in  the  New  World. 
At  first  these  were  all  tied  to  Spain,  to  the  Indies,  to  the 
great  trading  companies.  It  was  long  before  they  became 
measurably  self-sufficient.  To  the  degree  to  which  they 
spread  out  along  lines  of  natural  development — used  the  best 
lands  known  or  accessible  to  them,  kept  their  connections  with 
the  sea  carriers,  sought  out  new  and  distinctive  sources  of 
revenue — to  this  degree  they  grew  prosperous,  substantial. 
It  is  a  striking  fact  of  history  that  Atacama,  extending  right 
along  the  coast  for  nine  hundred  miles,  should  yet  have  been 
crossed  by  trails  and  dotted  with  towns  most  of  which  have 
kept  their  pioneer  quality  through  four  centuries  of  time. 
The  present  outposts  of  trade,  of  social  life,  of  Indian  settle- 
ment furnish  a  picture  of  pioneer  life  as  marked  as  it  is  persis- 
tent. A  provincial  social  structure  and  primitive  means  of 
transport  in  widely  spaced  communities,  these  basic  conditions 
have  made  the  region  a  geographical  laboratory  where  life 
flows  on  in  accustomed  channels  except  where  locally  turned 
aside  by  the  arrival  of  the  revolutionizing  railway  or  the  open- 
ing of  a  mine.  The  more  striking  and  significant  are  these  forms 
of  life  by  reason  of  the  strong  contrasts  they  exhibit  to  the 
industrial  life  of  the  great  mining  centers  of  today  like  Chu- 
quicamata  or  to  the  nitrate  desert  whither  for  more  than 
half  a  century  have  come  the  ships  of  every  industrial  nation  in 
the  world  and  over  which  was  fought  a  bitter  and  disastrous 
war. 

The  Atacama  region — for  the  most  part  a  thinly  populated 
desert — is  significant  in  a  still  larger  sense.  In  its  geographic 
and  historic  effects  it  is  not  an  isolated  example  but  rather 
belongs  to  a  class  of  natural  regions  that  have  helped  to  fashion 
the  history  of  the  entire  Hispanic-American  realm.  In  colonial 
times  there  were  only  a  few  centers  of  power  in  South  America, 
and  these  were  at  great  distances  from  one  another.  The 
obstructions  and  impediments  of  nature  tended  to  throw  the 


THE  HISTORICAL  BEARING  345 

greater  communities  into  certain  natural  groui)s  whence  arose 
regional  consciousness  and,  almost  of  necessity,  a  name,  a 
capital,  a  flag,  international  boundaries,  sentiment  for  a  na- 
tional life  and  the  traditions  that  logically  follow,  worship  of 
revolutionary  heroes,  the  machinery  of  government.  The 
physical  geography  was  unfavorable  to  that  broad  and  sweep- 
ing occupation  of  the  greater  part  of  the  continent  by  a  people 
disposed  to  try  to  agree  upon  common  principles  as  in  the 
United  States.  The  Desert  of  Atacama  effectively  separated 
the  settlements  of  Peru  and  Chile  until  national  traditions  had 
become  fixed  and  glorified  in  the  local  history  and  literature. 
Similarly  divided  were  the  settlements  of  Chile  and  Argentina, 
less  by  the  great  mountain  wall  between  them  than  by  the 
arid  country  east  of  the  mountains  and  the  sheer  space  to  be 
overcome  in  reaching  the  settlements  of  the  Plata  long  con- 
fined to  the  coastal  region.  The  rubber-yielding  Amazon 
country  was  long  curiously  like  the  Desert  of  Atacama  in  its 
gravitative  pull  upon  outside  industrial  countries  of  the  tem- 
perate zone  while  yet  acting  as  a  vast  barrier  to  international 
communication.  There  was  no  concentration  of  wealth,  as 
in  the  case  of  Java  and  Ceylon  with  their  modern  rubber 
plantations.  Except  for  widely  extended  traffic  by  canoe 
and  launch  on  the  part  of  notoriously  migratory,  unstable, 
and  limited  groups  of  whites  supplemented  by  a  thin  native 
population  this  vast  forest  had  every  quality  of  a  barrier  and 
none  of  those  of  a  connecting  zone  despite  its  naturally  avail- 
able fluvial  system.  It  has  remained  a  great  belt  of  division 
between  Colombia,  Venezuela,  and  the  Guianas  on  the  north 
and  Peru,  Bolivia,  Paraguay,  and  parts  of  Brazil  on  the  south. 
Even  with  a  limited  territory  to  govern,  it  has  been  hard  to 
maintain  political  unity.  The  natural  layout  of  fertile  plains, 
basins,  valleys,  mountain  ranges,  streams,  and  trails,  separates 
the  people  of  a  given  country  into  small  units.  Bolivia  and 
Peru  both  illustrate  this  condition  and  eiTect.  There  are 
four  centers  of  gravitation  in  Bolivia — La  Paz,  Oruro,  Sucre, 
and  Cochabamba — and  each  had  its  strongly  independent 
local  life  and  only  a  limited  effect  upon  the  other  centers. 
Mere  distance,  to  be  traversed  only  by  primitive  means  in  the 


346  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

case  of  all  four  until  less  than  a  score  of  years  ago,  was  a  prime 
consideration.  Each  town  is  measurably  self-contained  with 
adequate  agricultural  tracts  tributary  to  it.  Each  is  in  a  state 
of  culture  that  leads  it  to  look  outside  rather  than  to  a  neigh- 
boring center  for  the  imports  it  desires  to  obtain.  This  self- 
sufficiency  is  no  less  true  in  a  political  or  a  social  sense  than 
in  a  business  one.  The  intermarriage  of  prominent  and  influ- 
ential families  is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  lack  of  social 
communication  with  the  world  outside  the  town  or  the  valley 
or  the  region.  Having  a  large  native  Indian  population  that 
furnished  a  labor  substratum,  a  fairly  well  balanced  and  sat- 
isfactory life  had  been  developed  that  increased  the  independ- 
ence which  a  pioneer  condition  had  fixed  in  the  character  of 
the  people.  Since  the  beginning  of  Bolivian  history  there  has 
been  a  marked  rivalry  between  the  four  principal  towns  to 
influence  government  and  to  maintain  an  autonomous  condi- 
tion. 

In  Peru  revolutions  have  frequently  started  in  Arequipa, 
Abancay,  Cuzco,  and  elsewhere  in  the  interior  where  a  high 
degree  of  self-sufficiency  and  a  regional  consciousness  and 
family  interrelationships  have  worked  powerfully  through 
successive  generations.  Early  in  191 1  Cuzco  and  Abancay 
were  both  the  scene  of  revolutionary  fighting,  and  the  latter 
city  was  besieged  until  government  forces  succeeded  in  captur- 
ing the  principal  body  of  insurgents.  I  had  one  of  them  as  a 
guide  during  a  part  of  my  journey  across  the  Western  Cordil- 
lera of  Peru  in  that  year  and  from  him  learned  many  interesting 
things  regarding  the  point  of  view  of  the  insurgents,  the  his- 
tory of  the  fighting,  and  his  own  detention  in  a  government 
prison  at  Arequipa  from  which  he  had  escaped  but  a  short  time 
before.  It  was  not  merely  grievances  against  the  government, 
it  was  also  the  fact  that  they  were  young  men  in  search  of 
adventure  that  welded  the  band  together  and  led  to  military 
resistance  against  the  powers  that  were.  In  the  house  of  the 
Prefect  of  the  Department  of  Abancay,  Senor  Gonzales  showed 
me  how  he  managed  the  affairs  of  his  department  and,  point- 
ing to  the  telegraph  instrument  and  to  a  group  of  his  soldiers 
outside,  told  me  that  there  were  the  two  chief  means  of  govern- 


THE  HISTORICAL  BEARING  347 

ment  in  his  country  and  they  would  continue  to  be  the  means 
until  some  future  day  when  railway  lines,  a  better  government, 
the  fuller  exploitation  of  Peruvian  resources,  and  the  general 
education  of  his  people  had  risen  to  the  point  where  a  solid 
nation  could  be  developed  and  its  unity  assured. 

We  commonly  think  of  battles  as  the  conflict  of  armies 
merely,  instead  of  realizing  that  they  represent  also  the  con- 
flict of  ideas  and  of  environments.  Every  group  of  people  that 
has  been  organized  in  an  environment  that  isolates  them 
measurably  from  the  rest  of  the  country  has  certain  local  and 
immediate  needs  which  it  can  satisfy,  and  it  has  certain  outside 
needs  which  can  only  be  satisfied  by  a  central  government, 
either  because  they  call  for  an  outlay  of  capital  upon  a  scale 
larger  than  the  local  group  can  obtain  or  because  other  groups 
are  involved  whose  needs  must  also  be  taken  into  account. 
These  outside  needs  that  can  be  satisfied  by  government  only 
furnish  the  chief  source  of  dissatisfaction  in  every  loosely 
organized  society  spread  out  and  scattered  over  an  undevelopd 
country.  To  the  man  at  Abancay  government  may  mean  just 
one  thing — the  source  of  power  that  can  build  a  railroad  to 
furnish  him  an  outlet  for  his  sugar  and  brandy  to  the  markets 
of  the  coast  and  the  streams  of  ocean  commerce.  When  gov- 
ernment does  not  give  him  this  one  thing,  he  thinks  it  a  very 
poor  affair;  and  when  he  revolts,  it  is  not  to  carry  out  some 
well-thought-out  or  lofty  or  cherished  plan  of  his  own  but 
simply  to  protest  against  the  failure  of  the  government  to  give 
him  the  one  thing  that  he  asks  and  that  seems  so  easy  for  it 
to  grant. 

It  is  no  light  task  to  get  such  a  man  to  understand  that  the 
very  conditions  that  have  led  to  his  kind  of  logic  prevent  the 
central  government,  even  with  the  best  of  intentions  and  the 
most  intelligent  direction  of  affairs,  from  accomplishing  very 
much  in  a  few  years.  The  handicaps  are  too  great;  for  above 
and  beyond  the  scattered  nature  of  the  settlements,  the  towns, 
the  mines,  the  ports,  the  railways,  the  isolated  basins  and 
valleys,  the  dividing  influence  of  the  relief  and  the  climate  of 
the  plateaus  and  mountain  ranges  is  largely  responsible  for  the 
provincial  points  of  view  of  the  leaders  in  the  several  scattered 


348  DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 

communities.  If  you  were  to  point  this  out  to  the  leaders  of 
an  isolated  community  they  would  be  quick  to  deny  the  influ- 
ence thus  alleged.  To  them  the  ambitions  of  a  powerful  poli- 
tician, the  corruption  of  the  central  government,  the  ignorance 
of  the  masses,  and  the  greedy  nature  of  the  exploiting  foreigner 
are  the  first  causes  of  disorganization  and  complaint.  While 
these  are  the  immediate  agencies  that  affect  his  life  and 
welfare,  they  are  not  the  ultimate  and  basic  factors  in  it.  The 
isolated  community  never  sees  itself  molded  by  its  environ- 
ment.   It  looks  outside  for  the  source  of  its  troubles. 

In  considering  the  effect  of  physical  geography  upon  life  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  we  are  talking  of  barriers  that  keep 
people  physically  apart;  as  we  have  already  said,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  the  effort  that  has  to  be  expended  to  pass  obstacles. 
Even  passable  mountain  barriers  exact  a  toll.  They  tend  to 
increase  the  degree  of  separation  of  peoples  naturally  separated 
by  earlier  traditions,  by  the  location  of  their  chief  commercial 
outlets,  by  the  association  of  each  with  a  regional  environment 
that  has  become  fixed  in  history  and  in  national  consciousness. 
The  Atacama  country,  by  changes  in  political  ownership,  by 
the  war  fought  over  it,  by  the  persistent  pioneer  quality  of  its 
settlements,  by  the  distinctive  and  strongly  individualized 
quality  of  its  native  life,  powerfully  illuminates  the  history  and 
geography  of  South  America.  It  reveals  the  mode  by  which 
the  effects  of  physical  circumstance  were  combined  with 
racial  traits  to  produce  not  a  single  great  nation,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  United  States,  but  instead  a  number  of  nations,  small 
in  population  and  cultural  elements  if  not  in  area,  and  insecure. 
Of  each  it  could  be  said  that  its  existence  was  dependent  upon 
a  vigorous  "regionalism,"  strongly  embedded  in  the  racial 
memory  in  the  homelands  of  Spain  and  Portugal  and  strongly 
developed  in  its  new  environment,  where  the  race  in  its  settled 
stage  seemed  long  overcome  by  the  magnitude  of  the  physical 
barriers  raised  on  every  side  despite  the  heroic  work  of  the 
first  explorers  and  founders  like  Pizarro  and  Orellano  and 
Aguirre  and  a  host  of  others  whose  historical  stature  can  never 
overmatch  their  achievements. 


INDEX 


Abancay,  346 

Abaroa  Brothers,  234 

Acay,  202,  207 

Aconcagua,  252 

Aconquija,  316 

Adams,  G.  I.,  90 

Adobe  houses,  144 

Africa,  water  supply,  130 

Agassiz,  Louis,  i 

Agriculture,  49;  experiments,  70;  rain- 
fall in  relation  to,  49;  withdrawal 
from,  325 

Agua  Amarga,  169 

Aguada  de  Chilcas,  312,  313 

Aguadas,  265 

Aguadas  Dulces,  172 

Aguas  Blancas,  242,  247;  winter  camp 
of  shepherds,  243  (ill.) 

Aguas  Calientes,  281,  283  (ill.) 

Aguirre,  Camilo,  102 

Aguirre,  Francisco  de,  loi,  104 

Aguirre,  Hernando  de,  163 

Ahlmann,  H.  W.,  iii 

Aillo,  241 

Albert,  Federico,  139,  142 

Alcohol,  28,  341 

Alfalfa,  118,  119,  208,  240;  Argentina, 
192;  cultivation,  134;  hauling  at 
Vallenar,     135     (ill.);     pastures,    37 

(ill.) 
Alfalfa  meadows,   133;  irrigation,   134; 

Poma,  202;  Vallenar,  133 
Algarroba  fruit,  242 
Algarrobal,  36,  69 
Algarrobal  River,  114 
Algarrobales,  16 
Algarrobilla,    137,    138,    139;   pod   and 

seeds,  139  (ill.) 
Algarrobo,  12,  18;  dead  forests,  16;  drink 

made  from  the  beans,  226;  forests, 

former    distribution,    319;    tree,    66 

(ill.) 
Algeria,  water  measurement,  130 


Alianza,  18,  36 

Almagro,   Diego  de,   84,   85,   102,   201 

Almeido,  Diego  de,  174 

Alpaca,  308;  pastures  in  Bolivia,  340; 

wool,  340,  341 
Altiplano,    193,   215;   cultivation,   332, 

333  (ill.) 

Altitude,  effects  on  man,  24,  29,  38, 
281,  294 

Alvarez,  Arturo,  234,  242 

Amazon  Basin,  325,  336,  337,  345 

Ambrosetti,  J.  B.,  281 

Ancon,  Treaty  of,  83,  297 

Andalgala,  186,  250,  289;  Pucara,  311 

Andean  desert,  7 

Andenes,  320,  321;  as  evidence  of 
former  occupation,  322;  west  of 
Lake  Titicaca,  323  (ill.) 

Andes,  2;  cross  section  along  parallel 
24°  43'  S.,  148  (diagr.),  149;  eastern 
slopes  in  Bolivia  and  Peru,  336; 
land  forms,  252;  peaks,  252;  sky  line, 
254;  western  border — recent  survey, 
264   (map).   See  also  Central  Andes 

Angelis,  Pedro  de,  251 

Antiquities,  247 

Antofagasta,  75,  97,  171,  172,  290; 
artificial  character,  no;  develop- 
ment, 80;  railroad,  235;  rain  in  1911, 
42 

Antofagasta,  province  of,  251 

Antofagasta  de  la  Sierra,  298  (with 
ill.) 

Antofalla,  Salina  de,  265 

Antofalla,  volcano  of,  262  (ill.) 

Apachetas,  23  (ills.),  24,  103,  258,  282, 
305, 306 

Apolobamba,  pastures  of,  340 

Apurimac,  252 

Arenales,  332 

Arequipa,  94,  346 

Argentina,  97;  approaching  Atacama 
across  the  pampas,  186;  cattle  trade 


350 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


with  Copiapo,  107;  cross  section  of 
life,  188;  early  northwestern  settle- 
ments, connection,  108;  first  city, 
104;  mountains  in  the  northwest, 
189;  northwestern,  desirability  of 
grassland  studies,  317,  318;  north- 
western, pasture  and  woodland, 
269  (ill.),  270;  Puna  de  Atacama 
and,  297;  Rosario  de  Lerma  sheet, 
opp.  192  (map);  trail  from  Copiapo 
into,  io6;turnoin,  128;  woodland  and 
pasture  in  northwest  as  affected  by 
climatic  change,  317 

Arica,  90;  campaign  against,  90;  fall, 
92,  93;  hill  of,  92  (with  ill.) 

Aridity,  cumulative  effects,  268.  See  also 
Deserts;  Dryness 

Arizaro,  Salina  de,  265 

Aroma,  gorge  of,  92 

Arqueros,  169 

Arrenderos,  209,  210;  hacendados  and, 
210,  211  (diagr.) 

Arrieros,  242 

Arroyas,  11 

Ascotan,  81 

Asses,  167,  302-303,  304 

Atacama,  83;  Desert  and  Puna,  259 
(map);  larger  significance,  344,  348; 
pioneer  character,  344;  political  geog- 
raphy,  83;   population  by  censuses, 

175 

Atacama,  Desert  of,  15,  259  (map), 
266;  cross  section  along  parallel 
24°  43'  S.,  148  (diagr.);  dryness,  50; 
general  location  map,  10;  political 
history,  85,  86;  rains  and  floods,  40, 
41  (diagr.);  southern  margin,  43, 
96;  vegetation,  61 

Atacama,  Puna  de,  96,  102,  259  (map); 
agriculture,  286;  cattle  drove  cross- 
ing, 233  (ill.);  cattle  journeys  across, 
236;  cattle  routes  across,  detailed, 
234;  climate,  260;  cloud  zone  and 
woodland  and  grassland  belts  on 
eastern  border,  273  (diagr.);  con- 
trast with  plateaus  of  Bolivia  and 
Peru,  335;  cross  section  along  par- 
allel 24°  43'  S.,  148  (diagr.);  cross- 
ing, 275;  definition  and  description, 
257;    descent    into    basin    from    the 


east,  276,  277  (ill.);  dryness  of  east- 
ern wall,  260;  general  location  map, 
10;  geographical  significance,  328; 
habitability  in  the  past,  310;  habita- 
tions, ancient,  320;  highest  habita- 
tions, 338;  human  occupation,  294; 
Indians,  conditions,  308;  land  forms, 
252;  life  of  a  Puna  village,  300; 
looking  east  toward  mountains, 
285  (ill.);  mail  service,  286;  moun- 
tain belt,  256;  panorama  from  crest 
at  the  eastern  border,  opp.  278 
(ill.);  .pasturage,  282,  338;  political 
dependence,  295;  possible  develop- 
ment, 342;  secondary  ranges  on  the 
east,  257;  settlements,  294,  338; 
true  character,  265;  unfavorable 
conditions,  295;  unifying  efifect  on 
inhabitants,  330;  valleys,  basins,  and 
mountains,  261  (diagr.);  vegetation, 
276;  water,  278,  280,  282,  284,  285; 
weather,  279,  281;  western  mountain 
divide,  266;  western  part,  262  (ill.); 
wind,  232 
Atacama,  Salar  de,  243  (ill.),  245  (ill.), 
266,   279;  camp  site  on  border,   46 

(ill.)  _ 
Australia,  339 
Aymara,  2,  72 

Ball,  John,  60 

Balmaceda,  J.  M.,  94 

Barco,  104 

Barley,  27,  28,  29,  322 

Basins,  254;  desert  drainage,  47,  48 
(map);  dryness  and,  268;  floods  in 
desert  basins,  115;  interior,  piedmont 
slopes,  276,  277  (ill.);  mountain,  25; 
Puna  and  eastern  border,  261 
(diagr.);  shore  lines  of  lakes,  311; 
woodland  and  interior  basin  belts, 
association,  253  (map) 

Beasts,  patron  saints  of,  305;  prayers 
for,  306 

Belen,  299 

Bella  Vista,  Salar  de,  38 

Bermejo  River,  189,  221,  261;  region, 
227 

Bertrand,    Alejandro,    71,    234,    242, 


INDEX 


351 


Billinghurst,  G.  E.,  16,  42 

Bingley,  George,  181,  184 

Bohon,  Juan,  104 

Bolivia,  25,  81,  83,  193,  302;  cattle 
trade,  214;  centers  of  gravitation, 
345;  cultivation  of  high  plateau, 
331;  eastern  mountain  belt,  336; 
labor  supply,  226;  live-stock  trade, 
202;  mountain  village,  26;  Pacific 
littoral  acquired,  86;  railroads,  220; 
trading  methods,  216;  wool  business, 

340,  341 
Bollaert,  William,  42,  75,  80 
Bolton,  H.  C.,  159 
Boman,  Eric,   18,  224,  286,  300,  302, 

320 
Borax,  260,  300,  342;  lake,  283  (ill.) 
Border  towns,  eastern,   186;  economic 

changes,  199 
Bosman,  C.  J.,  143;  statistics  of  Huari 

fair,  215,  216 
Botijeria,  21 
Boundary,  Peruvo-Chilean  in  history, 

84 
Bowman,  Isaiah,  55,  193,  329,  338 
Boza,  R.  Davila,  169 
Braden,  180 

Bramador,  El,  155,  158  (ill.),  160  (ill.) 
Brandy,  224 

Brea,  162;  houses,  144,  145 
Bresson,  Andre,  171 
Bruch,  Carlos,  311 
Briiggen,  J.,  21 
Buckle,  H.  T.,  8 
Buenos  Aires,  186,  188,  196,  199 
Bunch  grass,  22,  277    (ill.),  282,  283, 

(ill.),  285  (ill.) 
Burial  places,  281 
Bustamente,  Jose,  84 

Cachi,  213,  271,  274,  287 

Cachi,  Nevado  de,  265 

Cactus,  22,  137;  Calchaqui  valley 
growth,  271  (ill.),  274;  dense  stands, 
273;  eastern  mountain  growth,  269 
(ill.);  shell  of  cardon,  272  (ill.);  struc- 
ture, 272  (ill.),  274 

Calama,  8,  16,  18,  89,  235,  287; 
alfalfa  pastures,  37  (ills.);  impor- 
tance, 290;  snow,  43 


Calchaqui  valley,  189,  201,  205  (ill.), 
252,  258,  342;  desert  growth  with 
cactus,  271  (ill.),  274;  eastern  bor- 
der— use  of  the  land,  211  (diagr.); 
fertility,  208;  importance,  289;  life  of 
the  people,  212;  Poma  and,  202,  206 
(ill.);  upper,  208  (map) 

Caldera,  96,  144,  164,  175,  183;  fog,  52; 
importance,  178;  port  constructions, 
96 

Caleta  Buena,  12  (ill.) 

Caleta  Molle,  153  (map) 

California,  gold  discovery,  174 

Callao,  93,  173 

Callalaste,  Cordillera  de,  265 

Camanchaca,  52 

Camarones,  92 

Camina,  92 

Campo  Negro,  208  (map) 

Campos,  221 

Camps,  243;  dry,  276;  shepherds,  243 
(ill.);  temperature,  278 

Canals,  irrigation,  112,  321;  Pica,  20 

Canchones,  72 

Cane  houses,  144,  145 

Cangallero,  168 

Canquilla,  27 

Canyons,  34,  35,  252 

Caracoles  (zigzags),  35 

Caracoles  mining  district,  89,  171,  217, 
290 

Cardon,  22,  137;  shell,  272  (ill.) 

Carmen,  Salar  del,  80 

Carnahan,  G.  H.,  266 

Carpa  No.  i,  150 

Carrizo,  212 

Casadero,  263  (ill.) 

Caspana,  71 

Castilla,  Ramon,  89 

Catamarca,  186,  235,  299 

Catarpe,  242 

Cateadors,  165,  167 

Cattle  trade,  134,  183,  292;  Argentina 
and  Copiapo,  107;  Bolivia,  202,  214; 
Chaco  cattle  assembled,  229  (ill.), 
230;  detailed  routes  across  the  Puna 
de  Atacama,  234;  driving  to  the 
nitrate  fields,  230;  journeying  across 
the  Cordillera,  233  (ills.);  journeys  to 
market,  214,  228;  mines  and,  176; 


352 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


prices,  230;  Salta  basin,  193;  snow- 
storm and  wind  on  routes,  280;  wet 
and  dry  years  in  relation  to,  119 

Cattlemen,  231 

Caya,  oasis  of,  33,  35,  66 

Cayrani,  Finca,  323,  327 

Cayrani  valley,  322 

Central  Andes,  252,  254;  changes  in 
climate  and  elevation,  310;  com- 
plexity, 256;  cultivation  of  high 
plateau,  332;  northern  and  southern 
sections,  contrasts,  334;  shepherds' 
life,  329;  Southern  Andes  compared 
with,  255 

Central  Lagunas,  15,  60 

Cerro  de  Pasco,  196 

Cerro  de  plata,  167,  171 

Cerro  Palca,  looking  westward  from, 
262  (ill.) 

Cerros,  34,  258 

Cerros  de  la  Sal,  34 

Cerruti,  A.,  234 

Charcarilla  canyon,  33 

Chacarilla  oasis,  34,  69;  forage,  price,  66 

Charcarilla  valley,  story  of  settlement, 
68 

Chaco,  192;  gallery  forest,  188;  grass- 
lands, 218;  Indians,  223;  population, 
227;  route  across,  220 

Chacra  sin  riego,  70,  72 

Chacras,  21 

Challapata,  215 

Chanar,  242,  244;  tree,  67  (ill.) 

Chanaral,  166,  178,  180 

Chanarcillo,  165,  168,  170,  176 

Changos,  59,  73 

Chaparral,  187 

Chaquenos,  224 

Charles  V,  85 

Charqui,  167,  230,  231,  302 

Chaschuil  depression,  262  (ill.),  263 
(ill.) 

Chicha,  215 

Chilca,  242 

Chilcas,  Aguada  de,  312,  313 

Children,  illegitimate,  304 

Chile,  11;  boundary  with  Peru,  84 
coast  of  northern,  11,  12  (ill.) 
finances,  88;  pastoral  industry,  80 
rainfall,  43 


Chile  saltpeter,  75.  See  also  Ni- 
trate 

Chilean  revolution  of  1891,  94 

Chileans,  loi 

Chilenos,  loi 

Chincha  Islands,  76 

Chinchilla,  138;  farming,  140,  141 
(ill.);  hunting,  140;  skin,  carving  of, 
139,  249  (ill.),  251;  skins,  142 

Chipana,  76 

Chiuchiu,  71,  235 

Chuculay,  Mt.,  264  (map) 

Chuno,  231,  244 

Chuquicamata,  180 

Church,  G.  E.,  217 

Church  in  Poma,  213 

Cienegas,  286 

City  geography  in  Chile,  109 

Clements,  F.  E.,  317 

Climate,  40,  310;  glacial  and  post- 
glacial changes,  315;  shifting  belts 
on  mountain  border,  310 

Clothing,  281 

Clouds,  51;  Argentina,  northwestern, 
190  (ill.);  eastern  border  of  Puna, 
effect  on  woodland  and  pasture,  273 
(diagrs.);  seaward  edge  of  desert,  51 
(diagr.),  52,  53,  55 

Coast,  11;  fracture  and  displacement 
zone,  148  (diagr.),  149,  153  (map); 
northern  Chile,  11,  12  (ill.);  trend 
of  movement,  150,  153  (map) 

Coast  ports,  blockade,  90 

Coast  Range,  12;  antiquity,  154;  cloud 
bank  in  Peru,  55;  Iquique  region, 
267  (map);  moisture,  51;  wet  years 
and  dry,  57 

Coast  steamers,  78,  79  (ill.) 

Coastal  terraces,  150,  151  (ill.) 

Cobija,  73,  290 

Cobos,  224 

Coca,  28,  199,  211,  302 

Cochabamba,  193,  217,  345 

Coipasa,  334 

Cojata,  341 

Cold,  279,  281 

Coletos,  230 

Colonial  settlement,  9 

Coloso,  96,  150 

Commerce.     See  Trade  ,    . 


INDEX 


353 


Community,  347;  changing  orientation 
in  desert,  251;  water  supply,  121 

Compania  Agricola,  134,  135 

Conde  Duque,  237  (ill.),  241 

Conduits,  20,  321 

Conquest.     See  Spanish  Conquest 

Conquistadores,  84 

Copiapo,  8,  43,  49,  51,  85;  cattle  trade 
with  Argentina,  107;  central  plaza,  107 
(ill.);  changes  in  life,  106;  character, 
98,  99;  copper  period,  174;  drought 
of  1877,  121;  drought  of  1923,  114; 
earthquakes,  143;  floods,  116;  fog 
and  cloud,  52;  foundation,  102; 
geographical  situation,  105;  history, 
99;  house  types,  144;  mining  in- 
dustry, 162;  panorama,  opp.  no 
(ill.);  physical  basis  of  life,  109; 
population,  109,  168,  169;  port  for,  96, 
97;  railroad,  176;  rainfall,  44,  45,  47, 
184  (diagr.);  street  scene,  107  (ill.); 
trail  to  the  east,  106;  view  with  river 
at  low  water,  98  (ill.);  wood  supply, 
136 

Copiapo  Mining  Co.,  165,  168,  178; 
earthquake  of  1859,  143;  records 
and  letters,  180;  sketch  of  mines 
and  estates  in  1835,  177  (map),  183- 
185 

Copiapo  River,  113,  115,  185,  280 

Copiapo  valley,  266;  disposition  of 
cultivated  land,  156,  157  (ill.);  up- 
per part,  opp.  no  (ill.) 

Coposa,  29 

Copper,  88,  100,  163;  Copiapo  and, 
174;  mining,  172;  modern  mines,  180 

Copper  Mines  of  Copiapo,  Ltd.,  180. 
See  also  Copiapo  Mining  Co. 

Coquimbo,  43,  51,  149,  162,  174;  cop- 
per, 173 

Coquimbo  valley,  170 

Cordillera  de  los  Andes,  261,  266 

Cordilleran  slopes,  22 

Cordoba,  189,  194 

Corn,  286,  302,  322 

Corocoro,  217 

Corporaca,  196 

Corrals,  212,  296  (ill.),  300,  301   (ill.) 

Corregidor,  341 

Cotton,  164 


Court  testimony  of  heretics,  183 

Cowboys,  229  (ill.),  230 

Cross,  wooden,  23  (ill.) 

Crustal  movements,  150,  153  (map) 

Cuadra,  P.  L.,  174,  178 

Cucuter,  242 

Cuesta  del  Obispo,  204,  257,  261,  273; 

looking    east    and    west    from,    203 

(ills.) 
Cueva  Negra,  26 
Cuevo,  219 
Cultivation,  321 
Cummings,  R.  W.,  134 
Customhouse,   Chilean,  238,  239   (ill.) 
Cuyo,  108,  129 
Cuzco,  340 

Darwin,  Charles,  I,  152,  181 ;  on  coastal 
fog,  53;  on  Copiapo,  169;  on  effect 
of  a  single  shower,  50;  on  the  Roar- 
ing Mountain  of  Toledo,  155 

David,  T.  W.  E.,  4 

Davila  Boza,  Ricardo,  169 

Davis,  A.  P.,  20 

Davis,  W.  G.,  279 

Denis,  Pierre,  128,  130,  209 

Derroteros,  167 

Desaguadero  River,  334 

Desert  settlements,  1 1 1 ;  changing 
orientation,  251;  nature  and  organ- 
ization, III.  See  also  Oases 

Deserts,  3;  Andean  desert,  7;  borders, 
8;  campaigning  in  a  desert,  91; 
Chile,  northern,  11;  definition  of 
desert,  61;  drainage  types,  47,  48 
(map);  floods  in  basins,  115;  fog,  53; 
inhabitants,  5,  8,  14;  isolated  settle- 
ment, 38;  landscape  in  Chile  and  in 
Peru,  11;  littoral,  52;  moist  sand, 
56;  pavement,  17  (ill.);  rainfall,  40; 
travel,  11,  14;  United  States,  South- 
west, 317;  vegetation,  60 

Despoblado,  200 

Diaz,  Guilberto,  202,  210 

Discovery,  i 

Distance,  345-346 

Domeyko,  Cordillera,  142,  171,  264 
(map),  266 

Drainage,  47;  Andes,  255;  desert  types, 
47,  48  (map) ;  shift  in,  320 


354 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


Droughts,  6,  ii8,  268;  case  of  the  year 
1877  examined,  121;  valley  com- 
munity and,  120 

Drunkenness,  294 

Dryness,  6,  40;  cumulative  effects, 
268;  fog  in  relation  to,  54 

Dulcinea    Mine,    100,    172,    178,    179 

(ill.),  185 
Dunes,    17;    piedmont    slopes   east   of 
Pica,    17    (ill.);    Roaring    Mountain 
of  Toledo,    158   (with  ill),   159,   160 
(ill.);  wind-rippled,  33  (ill.) 

Earthen  houses,  144,  145 
Earthquakes,    143;    Copiapo,    143;    of 

1918,  144;  of  1922,  144,  146 
Eastern  border,   186;  mountains,  etc., 

opp.  192   (map);  Puna,  261;  towns, 

186;  towns,  economic  changes,   199 
Eastern  Cordillera,  22,  203  (ill.) 
Economic  reorganization,  290,  292 
Eguiguren,  Victor,  184 
El  Bramador,  155,  158  (ill.),  160  (ill.) 
Electrical  works,  39 
El  Morro,  92  (with  ill.) 
El  Totoral,  46  (ill.) 
Embarcacion,    219,    220;    as   a   cattle 

station,  228 
Empexa,  Salar  de,  29 
Encomiendas,  308 

Escoipe  ravine,  189,  197  (ill.),  204,  271 
Escoipe  valley,  214 
Esploradora  mine,  180 
Estates,  325 
Esteros,  221 
Evans,  O.  H.,  152 
Exploitation,  modern,  325 
Exploration,  i,  3 

Fair  at  Huari,  214,  215 

Fertilizers,  75 

Fiambala,  basin  of,  268,  291,  314 

Fiambala,  Sierra  de,  263  (ill.) 

Fierro,  Alejandro,  85 

Finca  Cayrani,  323,  327 

Finca  La  Poma,  202 

Finca  Santa  Lucia,  ranch  house,   195 

(ill.) 
Firewood,    15;   exploitation,    16;   local 
trade,  136 


Fishermen,  59 

Flamenco,  97,  177,  184 

Floods,  8;  Chacarilla  valley,  68;  desert, 
40,  42,  47;  desert  basins,  115 

Fog,  43,  45,  50;  coast,  51;  dryness  in 
relation  to,  54 

Forage,  340;  across  the  Puna,  282 

Forests,  3;  buried,  319;  eastern  moun- 
tain belt  of  Bolivia  and  Peru,  336; 
gallery,  188,  218.  See  also  Wood- 
land 

Fortifications  of  Pucara,  311,  313 
(plan) 

Freights,  201,  217,  219 

Frezier, ,  16 

Frontier  life,  8,  191;  Chaco  region,  218 
Copiapo  107,  no 
Frontier  town  of  Salta,  191 

Galeria  Comina,  20,  21 

Galleries,  water-carrying,  20 

Gallery  forest,  188,  218 

Garay,    Sefior,    155;    hospitality,    157- 

158;  ranch  house,  155,  156  (ill.) 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  70 
Garua,  43,  52 
Gauchos,  229  (ill.),  230 

Gilliss, ,  75,  165,  169,  178 

Glaciation,  258,  315 

Glaciers,  315,  316 

Goatskins,  189 

Godoy,  Juan,  170  (with  ill.) 

Gold,     discovery    in    California,     174 

Gold  mining,  162 

Gonzales,  Senor,  346  « 

Gormaz,  F.  V.,  152 

Government,  345,  347;  handicaps,  347; 

Indians    and,    297;    industries   and, 

113 

Gran  Chaco,  218 

Grass,  22;  hardy  kinds,  340;  mountain 
pasture  belt,  22,  24 

Grasslands,  218;  Chaco,  218;  compara- 
tive studies,  317 

Great  American  Desert,  61 

Grubb,  W.  B.,  221 

Guaitiquina,  238 

Guanaco,  59 

Guano,  75,  76,  83,  87 

Guaqui,  217,  237 


INDEX 


355 


Guardamontes,  229  (ill.),  230 

Giiemes,  225 

Guides,  32,  58,  167,  284 

Habas,  189 

Habitation,  highest  in  the  world,  338 

Hacendados  and  arrenderos,  210,  211 
(diagr.) 

Hacienda  de  la  Compania  Agricola, 
134,  135  (ill.) 

Hacienda  La  Poma,  213  (ill.) 

Hacienda  Palermo,  205  (ill.) 

Heretics  and  Christians,  183 

Herrmann,  Alberto,  163 

Herzog,  Th.,  337 

High  plateau  of  Bolivia.     See  Altiplano 

Hilton-Simpson,  M.  W.,  130 

History,  geographical  knowledge  in 
relation  to,  343 

Holmberg,  E.  A.,  214 

Hospitality,  158 

Houses,  300;  earthquake  effects  on 
various  types,  144;  types  at  Copiapo, 
144.     See  also  Huts 

Huacas,  306 

Huaicho,  341 

Huanillos,  76 

Huantajaya,  169 

Huara,  42 

Huari  fair,  214,  215 

Huasco  basin,  25 

Huasco  Lake,  24,  25 

Huasco  River,  133,  280 

Huasco  valley,  50,  114,  170;  panorama, 
opp.  no  (ill.);  woodland,  136 

Huatacondo,  252 

Human  life  in  the  past,  310 

Humboldt  Current,  52 

Humidity,  coastal,  52 

Huts,  212;  Chaco  Indians,  226;  highest, 
212,  301  (ill.);  highest  in  the  world, 
338;  shepherds',  244;  shepherds'  at 
high  elevation,  275;  stone  hut  of 
mountain  shepherds  in  winter,  245 
(ill.);  temporary  hut  of  mountain 
shepherds,  243  (ill.) 

Ice  Age,  315,  316 

Ichu  grass,  22,  277  (ill.),  282,  283  (ill.) 
285  (ill.) 


Idols,  306 

Illegitimacy,  304 

Ilo,  90 

Inca  deity,  305,  306 

Inca  Empire,  65,  324 

Inca  road,  288;  through  the  desert, 
103 

Incas,  100,  102,  163 

Indian  blood,  loi 

Indians,  59;  Chaco  country,  223;  fisher 
folk,  59;  independence,  297;  labor 
and,  223,  225;  Poma  region,  209; 
salt  industry  and,  303;  shyness,  308 

Interior  basins.     See  Basins 

Intermont  valleys,  202 

Iquique,  13,  21,  91;  aridity  of  region, 
268;artificialcharacter,  iio;blockade, 
89;  Coast  Range  in  this  region,  267 
(map);  development,  80;  influence, 
74;  nitrate  business,  62;  rain  of  191 1, 
43;  rainfall,  40;  water  supply,  78 

Iquique  sheet,  33,  34 

Irrigation,  20,  49,  64,  112,  321;  alfalfa 
meadows,  134,  204,  209;  Algeria, 
130;  valley  communities  and  the 
turno,  120 

Isolation  of  towns  and  cities,  no 

Jauja,  196 

Jesus  Maria,  163 

Juan,  Jorge,  196 

Juan  Godoi,  171 

Judge  of  water,  123,  240 

Jujuy,   186,   303,   304,  308;   Puna   de, 

286,  307,  321 
Juntas,  227 

Kerr,  J.  G.,  221 
Klein,  Julius,  331 
Knoche,  Walter,  136 
Kiihn,  Franz,  200,  212,  278 

Labastie,  Felipe,  171 

Labor,  81,  223;  Chaco   Indians,  224, 

225;     shepherds'     and     proprietors' 

arrangements,  326 
Lacaw  (ship),  87 
La  Chimba,  81 
La  Gasca,  Pedro  de,  85 
Laguna  Helada,  263  (ill.) 


356 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


Lagunas,  38 

Lajas  River,  314 

Lakes  and  shore  lines,  311 

Lambrama,  Cordillera,  257 

Land,     178;    Argentina,    210;    Indian 

view    of,    297;    usefulness    in    high 

plateau    of    Central     Andes,     332; 

values,  178,  189,  210,  325,  342 
Land  forms  of  the  Puna  de  Atacama, 

252 
Landownership,  209 
Lange,   Gunardo,   289,   311,   313,   314 
La  Noria,  76 
La  Paz,  217,  345 
La  Poma,  202,  208;  ranch  house,  213 

(ill.) 
Laqueca,  27 
Lari,  Alto  de,  281 
Lascar,  279 
Latrille,  Roch,  70 

Lava  flows,  207,  258,  opp.  278   (ill.) 
League,  221 
Ledesma,  189 
Leiia  barrilla,  137 
Lerma  basin,  192,  201 
Lezaeta,  L.  S.,  102,  105 
Lima,  52,  83,  93,  94,  108,  196 
Linnemann,  Clemens,  144,  145 
Lipez,  164 
Lipez  River,  268 
Livingstone,  David,  4 
Llama  wool  ropes,  244 
Llamas,  24,  194,  302,  303,  342;  carvings 

of,  249    (ill.),   250;   drove  near  San 

Pedro  de  Atacama,  245  (ill.) 
Llanos,  34 
Llareta,  136,  284 
Llica,  26,  28 
Lloyd,  J.  A.,  171 
Llullaillaco,  Mt.,  149,  264  (map) 
Loa  River,  11,  16;  valley  fertility,  38; 

valley  pastures,  37  (ill.) 
Lobos  Islands,  76,  83 
Locumba  River,  90 
Lopez  Loayza,  Fernando,  78 
Loria,  Achilla,  9 
Lorima,  Mt.,  25 
Lost  trail,  29 
Lumber  in  Argentina,  188 
Luracatao,  214 


Macaya,  72 

Machetes,  288 

Machuca,  Lozano,  59 

Mackenna,  B.  Vicuna,  167,  174 

Macleod,  J.  M.,  95 

McQueen,  C.  A.,  88 

Mails,  286 

Maize,  321 

Malaspina,  Alejandro,  84 

Mani,  Quebrada  de,  70 

Manrique,  Juan  del  Pino,  251 

Manzano  River,  204 

Marine  shells,  150,  154 

Marine  terraces,  150,  151  (ills.) 

Maritime  Cordillera,  261 

Markham,  Clements,  310 

Marriage  among  the  Susques  Indians, 

304 

Matacos,  223 

Mate,  199,  225 

Mather,  K.  F.,  219,  220 

Matilla,  frontispiece  (ill.),  8,  15,  19, 
73,78 

Matta,  J.  G..  178 

Mauri  River,  268 

Mawson,  Sir  Douglas,  4 

Measurement  of  water  in  Algeria,  131 

Medanos.    See  Dunes 

Medina,  J.  T.,  85 

Mejillones,  81,  290 

Mendoza,  128,  256 

Mercedario,  252 

Migrations,  6,  244 

Miller,  B.  L.,  180 

Mifia,  326 

Mines,  71;  trade  with,  67 

Mining  industry,  119;  cattle  trade  and, 
292;  climatic  handicap,  165;  desert 
settlement,  influence  on,  162;  rail- 
roads and,  328;  relation  of  rainfall 
to,  119;  types  of  life,  167 

Mirage,  160  (ill.) 

Mohave  desert,  317,  318 

Molina,  J.  I.,  85,  173 

Molinos,  189,  200 

Mollendo,  58,  93;  coastal  terrace,  151 

(ill.),  152 
Montaiia,    197    (ill.);   settlement,    195 

■    (ill.) 

Monte,  187,  221 


INDEX 


357 


Monte  la  Soledad,  37  (ill.),  38,  112 

Monte  Lindo,  Riacho,  222 

Montessus  de  Ballore,  F.,  143 

Moquega,  90 

Morro,  El.,  92  (with  ill.) 

Mossman,  R.  C,  52 

Motor  trucks,  80 

Mountain  sickness,  294.  See  also 
Altitude 

Mountain  streams,  64.     See  also  Rivers 

Mountains,  3;  Argentina,  northwestern, 
189;  as  barriers  between  peoples, 
328,  348;  highest  peaks,  252;  inter- 
relation with  plains,  336,  337;  man's 
relation  to,  in  the  south,  255;  old 
range,  undissected  portions,  203 
(ill.);  railroads  as  conquerors,  7; 
Roaring  Mountain  of  Toledo,  155, 
158  (ill.),  160  (ill.);  scenery  in 
northern  Chile,  13;  settlements,  26; 
timidity  of  natives,  2"/ 

'Mud  houses,  144,  145 

Mules,  14  (ill.);  forage  for,  across  the 
Puna,  282,  284;  mining  industry  and, 
165;  pack  train,  197  (ill.);  supply, 
176,  194;  trade  and  transport  on 
eastern  border,  192;  value  as  beast 
of  burden,  194 

Muleteers,  196,  210,  242,  284 

Munoz,  Santiago,  103,  200 

Murphy,  R.  C,  76 

Murray,  Sir  John,  134,  135;  chinchilla 
farm,  140,  141  (ills.) 

Nevado  de  Cachi,  203  (ill.),  205  (ill.), 

265 
Nevado    Ojo    de    las    Losas,    looking 

northward    from,    262    (ill.);    pano- 
rama from,  opp.  278  (ill.) 
Nevado     San     Francisco,     panorama, 

opp.  278  (ill.) 
Newspapers,  no 
Nitrate,    16,    63;    Iquique    and,    62; 

significance  as  a  national  resource,  87 
Nitrate  desert,    13;   development,   73; 

population    groups,    60;    rains    and 

floods,  exceptional,  40 
Nitrate  industry,  342;  labor  supply,  81 ; 

provisioning,  76,  79  (ill.);  relation  of 

water  supply  to,  118 


Nitrate  works,  18,  36,  39;  oases  popu- 
lation and,  73 
Nordenskiold,  Erland,  220,  250 
Nordenskjold,  Otto,  152 
Nuestra  Senora,  86 

Oases,  14;  Caya,  33;  Monte  la  Soledad, 
37  (ill.);  economic  life,  238;  mountain 
shepherd  and,  247;  nitrate  settle- 
ments and,  73 ;  persistent  character  of 
towns,  70;  piedmont,  18;  sedentary 
character,  72;  situation,  64;  trade 
limitations,  65;  two  kinds,  50;  water 
supply,  19 

Obispito,  96,  165,  166 

Obispo,  Cuesta  del,  204,  257,  261,  273; 
looking  east  and  west  from,  203 
(ills.) 

Ogilvie,  A.  G.,  75 

O'Higgins,  Bernardo,  164 

Oil,  219 

Old  customs,  247 

Oruro,  81,  196,  217,  290,  345 

Pabellon  de  Pica,  76 

Pachamama,  305,  306 

Paciencia,  Llano  de  la,  34 

Pack  train,  14  (ill.),  197  (ill.) 

Pacocha,  90 

Page,  T.  J.,  201 

Paita,   93,    150;   coastal   terrace,    150, 

151  (ill.) 

Paja  bra va,  299 

Pajonales,  45,  246,  299 

Palca,  Cerro,  262  (ill.) 

Palermo,  204;  Hacienda,  205  (ill.) 

Palma,  221 

Pampa,  13;  Argentina,  186 

Pampa  Penon,  264  (map) 

Paposo,  50,  52,  59,  60,  85,  166;  bay  of, 
86 

Passes,  256,  260,  287,  289 

Pastoral  industry,  326,  329;  Chile,  80; 
utilization  of  high  pastures,  338 

Pastos  de  cerros,  299 

Pastes  Grandes,  275,  285  (ill.);  stone 
shelters  near,  296  (ill.),  300 

Pastos  Grandes,  Salina  de,  265;  north- 
ern border,  opp.  278  (ill.) 

Pastures,  22,  24,  299;  alpaca  in  Bolivia, 


358 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


340;  Andes,  339;  northwestern  Ar- 
gentina, as  affected  by  climatic 
change,  317;  oases  in  the  Puna  de 
Atacama,  246;  Puna  de  Atacama, 
338,  340;  rainfall  and,  57,  58;  wood- 
land and,  269  (ills.),  270;  woodland 
and,  on  eastern  border,  273  (diagrs.) 

Pata  del  oro,  137 

Patagonia,  255,  256 

Pavement,  desert,  17  (ill.) 

Peaks,  252 

Peary,  R.  E.,  4 

Peiia,  petroglyphs,  249  (ills.) 

Penas  Blancas,  212,  258,  260,  274, 
275,  338;  hut  and  corral,  301  (ill.) 

Penck,  Walther,  261,  263,  opp.  278, 
292,  314, 316 

Penon  Syndicate,  264,  266 

Peon  de  campo,  224 

Peons,  210,  326 

Pepper  tree,  156  (ill.) 

Perico,  225 

Perkins,  F.  N.,  181 

Peru,  51;  coastal  belt  fogs  and  rains, 
52,  55;  cultivation  of  high  plateau, 
331;  eastern  mountain  belt,  336; 
revolutions,  346;  viceroyalty  of,  108 

Peruvian  worship,  306 

Peruvo-Chilean  boundary,  84 

Pesse,  A.,  171 

Petroglyphs,  249  (ills.),  250 

Philippi,  R.  A.,  169,  174 

Pica,  8,  19,  71,  72,  73,  78;  forage,  price, 
66;  water  tunnels,  20 

Pica,  Altos  de,  19,  24,  34 

Pictographs,  250 

Piedmont,  eastern  border  of  inter mont 
basins,  276,  277  (ill.) 

Piedmont  oases,    18.     See  also  Oases 

Pilcomayo  River,  221 

Piles  of  stones,  23  (ill.),  24,  103,  282, 
288 

Pingo-pingo,  241  (ill.),  242,  299 

Pioneer  life,  344;   Chaco  region,  218 

Pioneers,  4 

Pique,  36 

Pircas,  103 

Pisagua,  16,  78,  89,  95;  flood,  42 

Piura  rains,  184  (diagr.) 

Pizarro,  Francisco,  84 


Piacilla,  171 

Plagemann,  A.,  16,  250 

Plains,  interrelations  with  mountains, 
336,  337 

Plant  geography  of  Bolivia  and  south- 
ern Peru,  337 

Plata  region,  108,  186,  199 

Playa  Blanca,  80 

Playa  lands,  189 

Pneumonia,  294 

Poisonous  grass,  284,  299 

Polar  regions,  I,  3,  4 

Political  geography  of  Atacama,  83 

Political  refugees,  237 

Political  unity,  345 

Poma,  214,  257,  275;  Calchaqui  valley 
and,  202;  houses,  213;  main  street, 
212    (ill.);  route  to,   204;  site,  207 

Ponchos,  231 

Poopo,  Lake,  contrast  with  Lake 
Titicaca,  334 

Population,  60;  density,  343;  effect  of 
Spanish  Conquest,  324;  nitrate  des- 
ert, 60;  towns  in  Chile,  no 

Ports,  166;  Atacama  Desert,  97;  trade, 

175 
Porunero,  168 

Potosi,  163,  164,  193,  251,  290 
Pozo  Almonte,  78;  flood,  42 
Precipitation.     See  Rainfall 
Pre-Cordillera,  289 
Prices  of  commodities,  65 
Prospectors,  165,  167 
Provisions  for  the  nitrate  industry,  76, 

78,  79  (ill.) 
Pucara,  248  (with  ill.),  250;  Andalgala, 

311;  pass  of,  289;   Rinconada,  320 
Puerto  Acosto,  341 
Puerto  Caldera,  162 
Puerto  Viejo,  97,  178 
Puna.     See  Atacama,  Puna  de 
Puno,  237 
Punta  de  Foca,  150 
Punta  Negra,  Salar  de,  266,  267 
Puquios,  172,  178,  179 
Pyrenees,  330 

Quebracho,  221 
Quebradas,  24 
Quechua,  2,  72,  163 


INDEX 


359 


Quenoa,  284 

Quillagua,  8,  38,  60 

Quimal,  Llano  del,  34 

Quinoa,  28,  29 

Quiron,  Salar  de,  282,  283  (ill.) 

Quisco,  137 

Quisma,  Quebrada  de,  19,  78 

Railroads,  70,  89,  95,  216;  Antofagasta, 
235 ;  Argentine  connection  with  Chile, 
97;  Bolivia,  220;  Chaco,  219;  con- 
quest of  mountain  and  desert,  7; 
Copiapo,  176;  earliest,  176;  mining 
industry  and,  328;  pack  trains  and, 
71;  primitive  nature  of  trains,  iii; 
sail  car,  79  (ill.);  trail  vs.  railroad, 
290 

Rainfall,  19;  Argentina,  northwestern, 
270;  Chile,  43;  Copiapo  and  Piura, 
184  (diagr.);  Copiapo  chances,  113; 
cultivation  in  relation  to,  49;  curve 
and  prediction,  184  (diagr.),  185; 
dates  and  amount  1888-1913,  44; 
dependence  of  the  people  on,  117; 
desert,  40,  41  (diagr.);  limits  of  zone 
of  maximum  in  present  and  in 
Pleistocene  time,  316  (diagr.);  Peru, 
coastal  belt,  55;  rains  of  191 1,  42; 
salars  in  relation  to,  335;  single 
shower,  effect,  50,  114;  temperatures 
and,  in  the  Puna,  278;  transportation 
rates  in  relation  to,  58;  wet  years  and 
dry  years,  118;  year  of  abundant, 
132 

Ramon,  Garcia,  172 

Ranch  for  raising  alfalfa  and  live  stock, 

134 
Ranch   house   at   Finca   Santa   Lucia, 

195  (ill.) 

Ranges  and  their  products,  339 

Ravines,  34,  35 

Red  sandstone,  258 

Regionalism,  348 

Religion,  72;  miners',  168;  mixture  of 
rites,  72;  services  of  priest,  213; 
Susques  Indians,  304,  305 

Reorganization,  economic,  292;  com- 
mercial companies,  292;  railroads, 
290 

Reservoirs,  78 


Revolutionists,  237 

Revolutions,  109,  346;  Chile,  1891,  94 

Richards  Deep,  148  (diagr.) 

Rincon,  282,  284 

Rinconada,  250,  307;  Pucara  ruin,  320 

River  steamers,  227 

Rivers,  11 ;  basis  of  life,  iii;  clearing 

bed,  197  (ill.);  dependence  of  oases 

on     mountain     streams,    64;   Puna, 

eastern  border,  261 
Roads,  desert,  103,  104 
Roaring    Mountain    of    Toledo,     155, 

158  (ill.),  160  (ill.) 
Roca,  J.  A.,  198 
Rogers,  Mr.,  24 
Romaiia  estate,  327 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  i,  4,  218 
Rosario,  187,  201 

Rosario  de  Lerma,  191,  204,  257,  271 
Rosario    de    Lerma    sheet,    opp.    192 

(map) 
Routes  across  the  Cordillera  from  the 

east,  199-200.     See  also  Trails 
Rubber  forests,  325 
Ruins  at  Pucara,  311,  313  (plan) 

Sahara,  61 

Saints,  72,  305,  306 

Sajama,  252 

Sal,  Cerros  de  la,  34 

Salado  River,  85,  201 

Salars,    18,   265,   283    (ills.),   303,   335 

Salinas,  81,  263  (ill.),  265 

Salinas  Grandes,  303,  306 

Salitreras,  42,  78,  80 

Salt,  260,  268;  ancient  industry,  303; 
cost,  176;  fields,  263  (ills.);  incrusta- 
tions, 49 

Salt  basins  in  the  Puna,  282,  283  (ills.) 

Salta,  97,  104,  186,  303,  304;  as  route 
station,  198;  basin,  148  (diagr.), 
190  (ill.),  191;  development,  recent, 
191 

Saltpeter,  Chile,  75.     See  also  Nitrate 

Sama  River,  83,  90 

San  Andres,  ^2 

San  Antonio  de  los  Cobres,  200,  295, 
298, 338 

San  Felix,  147 

San  Francisco,  battle  of,  91 


36o 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


San  Francisco,  volcano,  262  (ill.) 

San  Francisco  de  la  Selva,  136, 
163 

San  Isidro,  72 

San  Juan,  123 

San  Lorenzo  Islands,  93 

San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  8,  24,  71,  73, 
96,  102,  171,  172,  237  (ill.),  280,  287; 
cattle  station,  232;  cattle  trade,  235, 
236;  changing  orientation,  251;  eco- 
nomic life,  238;  population,  241 ;  situ- 
ation, 236;  snow,  43;  villages,  242; 
water  rights,  240 

San  Roman,  F.  J.,  16,  42,  168 

Sanchez,  P.  O.,  80 

Sand,  sonorous,  on  the  Roaring  Moun- 
tain of  Toledo,  158,  159,  160  (ill.) 

Sand  dunes.     See  Dunes 

Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  219,  225 

Santa  Fe,  39 

Santa  Rosa,  169 

Santiago,  85,  86,  no 

Santiago  del  Estero  del  Nuevo  Maes- 
trazgo,  104 

Sauce,  242 

Sayago,  C.  M.,  105,  164 

Sayate,  Arroyo  de,  321 

Scenery,  Andes  peaks,  252,  254;  nitrate 
desert,  13 

Sea  control,  89;  continued  importance, 

93 

Sea  journeys   in   colonial   period,    103 

Seggia,  130 

Serena,  43,  104;  mint,  170 

Settlements,  60;  effect  of  Spanish 
Conquest  on  human  life,  324;  effect 
of  uplift  in  the  past,  310;  Puna,  294; 
Puna  distribution,  297 

Sheep,  306,  308,  326,  342 

Shells,  marine,  150,  154 

Shelters,  281,  296  (ill.),  300 

Shepherds,  238;  arrangements  with 
proprietors  of  large  estates,  326; 
camp  and  hut,  243  (ills.);  mountains 
not  barriers  to,  329;  Puna,  295;  two 
residences,  246;  winter  encampment, 
245  (ill.) 

Shipping,  183;  mining  and,  173 

Shoemaker,  F.  C,  61 

Shore  lines  of  lakes,  311 


Showers,  114;  effect  of  a  single  shower, 
50 

Shrines,  282 

Signos  del  camino,  288 

Sillilica,  Cordillera,  15,  23  (ill.),  25,  254 

Silver  discoveries,  169 

Silver  mining,  164 

Sinai,  sonorous  sand,  159 

Singewald,  J.  T.,  Jr.,  180 

Sitilca,  Altos  de,  34 

Snow,  30,  117,  260;  camping  and  travel- 
ing in,  32;  floods  and,  47;  heavy 
storms,  43,  280;  in  the  desert,  240; 
rivers  in  relation  to,  280 

Snow  line,  315,  316 

Socaire,  247 

Soncor,  24,  234,  247;  oasis  of,  239  (ill.) 

Sorata,  217 

Soroche,  294,  306 

Sotomayor,  Colonel,  89 

South  Africa,  339 

Southern  Andes  compared  with  Central, 

255 

Spaniards,  84,  102,  112,  344 

Spanish  Conquest,  effect  on  popula- 
tion distribution,  324 

Springs  in  the  Chaco,  223 

Stability  of  life,  no 

Steam  navigation,  173,  183 

Steamers,  coast,  78,  79  (ill.) 

Stefansson,  Vilhjalmur,  4 

Stone  shelters,  281,  296  (ill.),  300 

Stream  bed,  197  (ill.) 

Sucre,  193,  345 

Sugar  industry,  188;  labor  needs,  224, 
225 

Suisiuga,  27,  29 

Susques,  298,  300,  302 

Sutcliffe,  Thomas,  174 

Tabular  masses,  34 

Tacna,  43,  90,  91 

Tacna-Arica  Conference,  83 

Talaje,  176 

Talina,  303 

Taltal,  71,  74  (ills.),  149;  water  sys- 
tem, 77  (ill.) 

Tamarugal,  Pampa  del,  16,  38;  agri- 
cultural experiments,  70 

Tamberias,  103 


INDEX 


361 


Tambillo,  19,  46  (ill.),  238,  279 

Tanning,  138 

Tarapaca,  16;  coast  ports,  90;  nitrate 
beds,  88;  nitrate  industry  and  popu- 
lation, 82 

Tarapaca,  Desert  of,  16;  buried  algar- 
robo  forests,  319;  extreme  dryness, 
62 

Tarapaca,  Quebrada  de,  22 

Temperatures  and  rainfall  in  the  Puna, 
278 

Terminal  moraines,  258 

Terraces,  320,  326.     See  aho  Andenes 

Terraces,  marine,  150,  151  (ills.) 

Territorio  de  los  Andes,  297 

Teuco  River,  227,  228 

Tevingulcha,  242 

Tierra  Amarilla,  116,  117 

Tilomonte,  103,  247 

Tinogasta,   97,   314:1  importance,   291 

Tintin,  plain  of,  274  ' 

Tintin,  Sierra  de,  204 

Tirana,  16,  70 

Titicaca,  Lake,  217,  237;  contrast  with 
,  Lake  Poopo,  334;  valley  slopes  west 
of,  322,  323  (ill.) 

Tobacco,  226 

Tobas,  223 

Toconao,  240,  246,  247 

Tocopilla,  60,  290 

Tola,  22,  24,   137,  276,  282,  284,  299 

Tolderias,  226 

Toldo,  222 

Toledo,  155;  Roaring  Mountain,  155, 
158  (ill.),  160  (ill.) 

Tolilla,  137 

Torata,  90 

Totoral,  El,  46  (ill.) 

Towns,  64;  dependence  on  environing 
country,  109;  desert,  character,  64, 
70;  size,  census  statistics,  no 

Trade,  65;  methods  in  Bolivia,  216; 
relocation,  290,  292 

Trail  markers,  288 

Trails,  18;  across  the  Puna  de  Ata- 
cama,  287;  cattle  routes,  detailed 
across  the  Puna  de  Atacama,  234; 
cattle  trails  from  the  Chaco  to  the 
nitrate  fields,  231;  cordilleran  slopes, 
22;  desert,  18;  dry-weather  and  wet- 


weather,  22;  hot  and  sandy,  46  (ill.); 
losing  a  trail,  29;  permanence,  288; 
railroad  vs.  trail,  290 

Transportation,  58;  Bolivia,  217;  cost, 
219;  eastern  border,  193;  mining 
industry  and,  165,  172,  175;  moun- 
tains and  the  mining  industry,  328; 
rains  in  relation  to  rates,  58.  See 
also  Freights 

Tres  Cruces,  316 

Tres  Cruces  pass,  200 

Tres  Puntas,  171 

Tropical  forests,  3 

Troussu,  Pierre,  20 

Trujillo,  52 

Tschudi,  J.  J.  von,  252 

Tucuman,  104,  186,  187,  188,  289 

Tunilla,  140 

Tunnels,  water,  20 

Tupiza,  102,  193 

Turner,  F.  J.,  9 

Turno,  law  of  the,  119;  Argentina,  128; 
documents  showing  the  working 
of  the  law,  121,  124,  128 

UUoa,  Antonio  de,  196 

United  States,  Great  Plains  and  deserts, 

61;  Southwest,  317 
Uplift,  150,   154;  effect  on  settlement, 

310 
Upper  Peru,  192,  193,  196 
Uros,  59 
UyunI,  331 
Uyuni,   Salar  de,   254,   268,   294,   334, 

335 

Valdlvia,  Pedro  de,  84,  85,  102 

Valle  de  la  Poseslon,  102 

Vallenar,  45,  49,  51,  135  (Ills.) ;  drought 
In  1913,  114;  earthquake,  146,  147; 
panorama,  opp.  no  (ill.);  rainfall, 
133;  silver  mines  near,  169 

Valleys,  98;  Chilean,  103;  Coplapo, 
102,  105;  Intermont,  202;  sand- 
choked  valley,  31  (111.);  stability  of 
life  in,  112 

V^alparalso,  95,  no,  173 

Vaqueanos,  167 

Vegas,  265,  276 

Vegetation,  60,  317 


362 


DESERT  TRAILS  OF  ATACAMA 


Victoria  copper  mines,  35 

Vicuiia  hunting,  247 

Viento  bianco,  232,  281 

Vilcapampa,  Cordillera,  315 

Villa  Concepcion,  221 

Ville  du  Havre,  79  (ill.) 

Vizcacha,  25,  139 

Vizcachera,  284,  299 

Volcanoes,  25,  46  (ill.),  258,  260,  264 

(map),    276;    Central    Andes,    254; 

Poma,    207;    volcanic    country,    31 

(ill.) 

Wakefield,  H.  F.,  134 

War  of  the  Pacific,  83,  183,  297;  strat- 
egy, 89 

Water,  8;  Chaco,  222;  Chilean  coast 
streams,  11,  12;  cost  and  scarcity, 
171;  government  control,  113;  oases, 
supply,  19;  recovery  in  the  desert, 
20;    struggle    for,    119;    waste,    319 

Water  clock,  131 

Water  rights,  182;  Argentina,  128; 
San  Pedro  de  Atacama,  240 

Water  supply,  49;  Africa,  130;  hauling 
water  by  mules,  77  (il's.);  mining 
demands  at  Copiapo,  163;  nitrate 
industry,  76;  Pucara,  312;  Pima  de 
Atacama,  278,  280,  282,  284,  285; 
quarrels  about,  123,  164,  209;  Sayate, 
321;  turno  law,  119;  two  elements 
in  the  desert,  117.     See  also  Turno 

Water  tunnels,  20 

Watson,  Mr.,  15 

Weather,  54 


Western  Cordillera,  34,  245  (ill.),  262 
(ill.);  crossing  in  face  of  the  wind, 
278 

Wheat,  174,  339 

Wheelwright,  William,  173,  176 

Willis,  Bailey,  92,  opp.  iro,   146,  147 

Willow,  242 

Wilson,  H.  M.,  20 

Wind,  79;  Argentina,  northwestern, 
270;  Puna  de  Atacama,  232,  276,  278; 
sail  car  on  railroad,  79  (ill.) 

Wine  making,  162 

Wood,  136.     See  also  Firewood 

Woodcutter,  15 

Woodland,  187,  221;  Argentina,  north- 
western, 190  (ill.);  Argentina,  north- 
western, as  affected  by  climatic 
change,  317;  eastern  border  of  Andes, 
outliers,  198  (ill.);  interior-basin  belt 
associated  with,  253  (map);  moun- 
tain slopes  west  of  Salta,  269  (ill.) ; 
pasture  and,  269  (ills.)  270;  pasture 
and,  on  eastern  border,  273  (diagrs.). 
See  also  Montana 

Wool,    302,    305,    308;    alpaca,    340, 

341 
Worship,  72,  168,  213;  Peruvian,  30*6: 

Susques  Indians,  304,  305 
Wrigley,  G.  M.,  192 

Yacuiba,  219,  225 
Yerba,  225 
Yungas,  211,  336 

Zapar,  246 


University  of 
Connecticut 

Libraries 


